Graphically defining a route through one or more switch devices

ABSTRACT

One embodiment of the present invention comprises a system and method for graphically defining a route through one or more switch devices. the user may interact at a high level with a graphical user interface of a visual route editor to graphically create the route. For example, the visual route editor may display icons, diagrams, or other information that visually represents the route, e.g., by displaying information graphically representing the path that the route takes through the one or more switch devices.

PRIORITY CLAIM

[0001] This application claims benefit of priority of U.S. provisionalapplication Serial No. 60/312,547 titled “Switch Executive” filed Aug.15, 2001, whose inventors were Srdan Zirojevic, Jason White, Scott Rust,and Jucao Liang.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to the field of computer-based testsystems, and more particularly to a system and method for graphicallydefining a route through one or more switch devices, wherein the one ormore switch devices are used to connect test instruments to test pointson a unit under test.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

[0003] A switch is a device used to open and close a circuit. Switchdevices are an integral part of many test, measurement, and dataacquisition systems because they are used to connect multiple testpoints to multiple instruments, e.g., to provide stimulus to or toacquire data from a unit under test. Switches are used in a variety ofcomputer-based measurement, automation, and data acquisitionapplications ranging from thermocouple measurements to cellulartelephone testing. Switches come in a variety of types and sizes to meeta wide range of computer-based measurement and automation needs.Switches can be differentiated by their mechanical characteristics andfunction topology.

[0004] The simplest switch is the single-pole single-throw (SPST).Single-pole means the switch has only one source wire. Single-throwmeans the switch can make a connection in only one position. An SPSTswitch is used to complete a circuit; a very common use of an SPSTswitch is for turning power on and off. A second type is the single-poledouble-throw (SPDT) switch. An SPDT switch has a single source(single-pole) and two (double-throw) switch positions. An SPDT switchmay rest in a normally closed (NC) position. The second possibleposition is normally open (NO). The SPDT switch routes or selects twosignals, such as switching between battery power and main-line power.

[0005] A third switch type is the double-pole, double-throw (DPDT). Fora DPDT switch, the two levers are “linked” and move together. Both polesare always in the same position. A DPDT switch is basically formed bytwo SPDT switches always operating at the same time. In addition to thepole and throw terms, switches are classified by form. Form A refers toa single-throw switch that is normally open. If it has one pole (SPST)80 it is called a “1 Form A” switch. In contrast, Form B refers to anormally closed SPST switch. Form C refers to a single-pole,double-throw switch (also known as a transfer switch). The SPDT switch82 has a single pole and thus is a “1 Form C” switch. The switch withtwo poles is a “2 Form C” switch (DPDT) 84.

[0006]FIG. 1A

[0007]FIG. 1A shows three examples of a General-Purpose (GP) switch,which comprises multiple, independent, isolated relays. GP switches canconnect one input to one output. They are usually used to turn on or offdevices such as motors, fans, and lights. GP switches can be used toswitch high voltage or high current signals, and they are usually builtwith Form A or Form C switches.

[0008]FIG. 1B

[0009]FIG. 1B illustrates an exemplary Multiplexer (Mux), whichtypically connects one instrument to several devices or units undertest, or several instruments to one device or unit under test. A typicalmux configuration is a 2-wire switch used with differential signals. A1-wire switch routes single-ended signals. A 4-wire switch is used whenmeasuring low resistance or RTDs. Muxes are often used to connect adigital multimeter (DMM), or a scope to a plurality of measurementpoints, or a signal source to a plurality of points needing excitation.Multiplexers can switch high voltages (250 V and over) and high currents(2 A and over) with large power capacities (up to 200 W and over). FETmultiplexers have high contact resistance and switch low current signalsbetween ±10 V with bandwidths of 1 to 2 MHz. Radio frequency, or RF,multiplexers can switch GHz bandwidth signals.

[0010]FIG. 1C

[0011]FIG. 1C illustrates two exemplary matrix switches, which canconnect to any output, singly or in combination. Oscilloscopes, DMMs,arbitrary function generators, and power supplies can be connected tovarious test points on a unit under test (UUT). The main benefit ofmatrix switches is simplified wiring; the overall test system can easilyand dynamically change the internal connection path, without anyexternal manual intervention.

[0012] The two most common types of electrical switches are mechanicalrelays and solid-state switches. Mechanical relays, also known aselectromechanical relays, make a characteristic clicking sound. They canbe one of three types—armature, dry reed, and mercury-wetted reed.Mechanical relays are often used in high-voltage applications, or lowlevel resistance or voltage measurements. On the other hand, FETswitches have no moving parts and use transistor technology to switchthe signals. They are used in low-voltage (±10 V) applications where itis important to have very little switch delay—having no mechanicalparts, FET switches are very fast and may have a longer life. FETswitches typically have impedance in the range of 10 Ohm to severalkOhm.

[0013] Many test, measurement, and data acquisition systems utilizeswitch devices to switch between different data sources and data sinks,e.g., between different sensors and instruments. In these systems manytimes it is necessary to create a switch configuration or one or moreconfigured routes to configure the one or more switch devices. Aconfigured route may configure the switch device(s) to connectparticular signal sources/signal sinks of instruments and/or computersystems to particular signal sources/signal sinks (test points) of aunit under test. The configured route may route signals through severalswitch devices, such as multiplexers or matrices, in order to create acomplete path from a source channel to a destination channel.

[0014] Various application software programs have been provided whichenable users to create configured routes for one or more switch devices.One common technique for creating a route involves utilizing table-basedtechniques. However, table-based techniques are not intuitive for mostusers.

[0015] In addition, it is often very difficult to configure routesutilizing multiple switch devices on the same switching system. It isalso often a very difficult and lengthy process to reconfigure differentroutes from a first set of switch devices to a second set of switchdevices in an application. Therefore, an improved software program fordefining routes is desired. In particular, it would be desirable toprovide a system and method for graphically (and more intuitively)defining a route through one or more switch devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0016] One embodiment of the present invention comprises a system andmethod for graphically defining a route through one or more switchdevices.

[0017] An exemplary embodiment of a computer based automated test systemmay comprise a computer system coupled to an instrument/switching systemcomprising one or more switch devices, which in turn can couple to aUUT. The one or more switch devices may be encapsulated in a virtualswitch device. As used herein, the term “virtual switch device” maycomprise a software entity or software object representing one or moreactual hardware switch devices contained in the switching system. Theterm “virtual switch device” may also refer to one or more hardwareswitch devices that operate as a single virtual switch. Further, thecomputer system may store various switch instrument drivers whichinclude information regarding the respective switch devices that theycontrol.

[0018] According to one embodiment of the method, the user may set upthe hardware configuration of a switching system and of an instrumentsystem, if necessary. Setting up the instrument system may comprisecoupling one or more instruments to a computer system, e.g., as a cardcomprised in the computer system or in a separate chassis or a separatestandalone instrument. The instrument(s) may also be connected to theswitching system. Setting up the switching system may compriseinstalling one or more switch devices in the switching system. The usermay then configure the virtual switch device, which may includeselecting devices from the switching system and/or the instrument systemfor inclusion in the virtual switch device.

[0019] Next, the user may create configured routes for the virtualswitch device. Each configured route may comprise a complete path from asource channel to a destination channel through one or more of thehardware switch devices in the virtual switch device. As describedbelow, in the preferred embodiment, creating the routes comprises theuser interacting at a high level with a graphical user interface of avisual route editor to graphically create the route. For example, thevisual route editor may be able to display icons, diagrams, or otherinformation that visually represents the route, e.g., by displayinginformation graphically representing the path that the route takesthrough the one or more switch devices. In one embodiment, the user maysimply draw or configure the route using the visual route editor.

[0020] Once the user has created one or more configured routes, the usermay utilize the routes. For example, the user may create a program usingconfigured routes. In various embodiments the user may create any ofvarious types of programs to use the configured routes, such as atext-based program (e.g., a program written in a text-based programminglanguage such as C, C++, Visual Basic, Java, etc.) or a graphicalprogram (e.g., a program comprising a plurality of interconnected nodesthat visually indicate functionality of the program).

[0021] The program using the configured routes may then be executed.During execution, the program may be operable to control the virtualswitch device and the instrument system. For example, the program may beexecutable to use a configured route to configure one or more of thehardware devices in the virtual switch device according to the route,e.g., by passing the route or route name to an application programminginterface (API) function operable to configure the devices. The programmay then send and/or receive signals via the configured hardware (or maycause other devices to send and/or receive the signals), e.g., to test,measure, and/or control a device, unit, or process under test.

[0022] In one embodiment, software referred to herein as the “switchexecutive core” may manage the virtual switch device and the creation ofconfigured routes. The switch executive core may be operable to displaya switch configuration wizard, i.e., one or more GUI dialogs or windowsfor receiving user input regarding the virtual switch device. The switchexecutive core may create and/or modify the virtual switch device inresponse to user input to the wizard. The switch executive core mayquery various switch instrument drivers to determine the type andcapabilities of each of the respective switch devices comprised in theswitching system. For those switch devices that are not automaticallydetected, the user may manually input or select respective switchdevices present in the switching system. The switch configuration wizardgraphical user interface may show the user the various switch devicespresent in the switching system. In one embodiment, the user maygraphically select one or more of the switch devices together to createa virtual switch device. For example, if five switch devices are presentin the switching system, the user may select one or more of these switchdevices to configure the virtual switch device.

[0023] The user may have various options on how to configure the newlycreated virtual switch device, including importing a virtual switchdevice configuration that has been previously created from a file, orthe user may manually associate external switch devices to create a newvirtual switch device. For example, the method may operate to display alist of physical switch devices coupled to the computer system.Graphical user input specifying the desired physical switch devices toassociate with the virtual switch device may then be received.

[0024] The user may also graphically configure individual channels inthe virtual switch device. For example, the user may have an option toenter alias names in lieu of default channel names provided by thecomputer, as well as comments to help the user associate the namedchannel with the actual operation of that channel. The user also may seeand/or set different attributes and/or resources for the given channelsuch as bandwidth, impedance, speed, settling time, carry current andother parameters. The user also may have a choice of channel typeselection, e.g., a normal channel, a configuration channel, or a sourcechannel. Channel types may be defined by instrument drivers, or they maybe configured by the user. In the visual route editor, the switchexecutive core may recommend the use of a normal channel as aconfiguration channel automatically if there is not already auser-defined configuration channel for use.

[0025] The user may graphically configure hardwire connections or usepreviously configured hardwires on the physical switch devices thatconnect the various switch devices together in the switching system. Ingeneral, the information about hardwires is not available to the switchexecutive core. Thus, the user may graphically configure or enterinformation into the computer system regarding the various hardwireconnections that are present between the various switch devices in theswitching system.

[0026] As described above, the system preferably enables the user tocreate routes in a graphical manner via a visual route editor. Creationof routes in the visual route editor is also referred to herein as“design-time assisted routing” because the editor may assist the user invarious ways in completing a route. The editor may utilize functionalityprovided by the switch executive core to perform the actual switchdevice selection, channel selection, hardwire connection selection,etc., involved in creating a route.

[0027] The user may utilize the visual route editor to graphicallyconfigure routing information between channels, possibly specifyingvarious types of desired resource and dependency characteristics. Thevisual route editor may allow for interactive route editing, includingmodification of route endpoints, insertion and removal of devices andhardwires into a path. The visual route editor may also providegraphical response as to the validity of the route. In otherembodiments, the visual route editor may allow for fully interactiveediting of the displayed route.

[0028] The visual route editor may enable the user to specify a name foreach created route. Information representing the route may be stored,and the route may later be used from within a program. For example, thespecified name may enable a program to programmatically reference thestored information representing the route, e.g., to pass the informationto an API function or method operable to use the information, e.g., toconfigure one or more switch devices.

[0029] In some prior art systems, creating routes between differentchannels in a switching system requires intimate knowledge of all of thehardware being used. In systems where the channel count is quite large(in many cases on the order of 10³), this can be a very laborious taskwith many options. In many cases, there are multiple potential ways tocomplete a route, but a very large number of paths may make the manualcompletion of routes very difficult and time consuming.

[0030] The switch executive core may use an algorithm that allows usersto partially specify sections of the problem. If the switch executivecore can find a solution fitting the partial specification, the switchexecutive core may return the solution. If the switch executive corecannot find a solution, the switch executive core may present a partialsolution, along with options of steps to take next. The options may belimited to valid or potentially valid solutions. During the process ofgraphically creating a route, the route may be constantly validated.

[0031] The visual route editor may also allow users to specify desiredsignal characteristics. Switch devices come in a variety of types andare made for different purposes. In choosing particular switches andchannels for a route, the switch executive core may ensure that thechosen elements meet the user's desired signal characteristics, e.g.,may ensure that the switches used in the route can carry a signalmatching specified signal characteristics, such as voltagecharacteristics, current characteristics, resistance characteristics,speed requirements, etc. The visual route editor may also allow users tospecify any other routes that they expect to coexist with a selectedroute. This may allow the switch executive core to avoid using any routeelements that would create a resource conflict.

[0032] Instead of trying to keep track of hardware topologies for all ofthe switch devices, the switch executive core may use the switchinstrument drivers of the respective switch devices directly, thuseliminating the need for performing maintenance work on the topologyfiles for the switch devices. During route creation, the switchexecutive core may query the switch instrument drivers to determineswitch system routing information, and may then defer to the switchinstrument drivers to handle intra-device routing.

[0033] Creating a route in a graphical manner may comprise displayingvarious icons representing hardware elements in the route and displayingwires connecting the icons to indicate that the route passes through therespective hardware elements. For example, user input may be received tothe graphical user interface of the visual route editor specifying afirst endpoint of the route, wherein the first endpoint comprises achannel of a first switch device. In response, a first icon representingthe first switch device may be displayed. User input may then bereceived to the graphical user interface of the visual route editorspecifying a second endpoint of the route, wherein the second endpointcomprises a channel of a second switch device. In response, a secondicon representing the second switch device may be displayed. The firsticon and the second icon may visually indicate that the route passesfrom the first channel of the first switch device to the second channelof the second switch device.

[0034] One or more icons may be displayed between the first iconrepresenting the first switch device and the second icon representingthe second switch device. The visual route editor may interface with theswitch executive core to automatically determine one or more additionalelements that complete the route from the first endpoint to the secondendpoint and may display icons representing the one or more additionalelements to indicate the completed route.

[0035] As one example, a hardwire connection between the first switchdevice and the second switch device may be determined. A hardwireconnection icon may be displayed between the first icon and the secondicon. A first wire may be displayed to connect the first icon to thehardwire connection icon, and a second wire may be displayed to connectthe hardwire connection icon to the second icon. The first and secondwires may visually indicate that the route passes through the firstswitch device, the hardwire connection, and the second switch device.

[0036] The visual route editor/switch executive core may also determinethat a second hardwire connection also exists between the first switchdevice and the second switch device. In this case, the user may be ableto provide input to the graphical user interface to request to use thesecond hardwire connection instead of the first hardwire connection. Inresponse, the hardwire connection icon may be re-displayed to visuallyindicate that the route passes through the second hardwire connection.For example, in one embodiment, the user may be able to interact withthe hardwire connection icon itself to request to use a differenthardwire connection, e.g., by choosing a different hardwire connectionfrom a displayed list of available hardwire connections between thefirst switch device and the second switch device.

[0037] If there is no hardwire connection between the first switchdevice and the second switch device, the visual route editor mayvisually indicate that the route from the first channel of the firstswitch device to the second channel of the second switch device isincomplete. In this case, the user may specify a third switch device toinsert in the route between the first switch device and the secondswitch device. In response, a third icon representing the third switchdevice may be displayed. If a first hardwire connection exists betweenthe first switch device and the third switch device, and a secondhardwire connection exists between the third switch device and thesecond switch device, then the route may be completed. For example, afirst hardwire connection icon and associated wires may be displayed tovisually indicate that the route passes from the first switch devicethrough the first hardwire connection to the third switch device. Asecond hardwire connection icon and associated wires may be displayed tovisually indicate that the route passes from the third switch devicethrough the second hardwire connection to the second switch device.

[0038] In various embodiments, the icons representing hardware elementsin the route may have any of various appearances and may display varioustypes of information. In one embodiment described herein, an iconrepresenting a switch device may display information specifying:

[0039] a name of the respective switch device

[0040] a left hand side endpoint for the respective switch device,wherein the left hand side endpoint comprises a first channel of therespective switch device

[0041] right hand side endpoint for the respective switch device,wherein the right hand side endpoint comprises a second channel of therespective switch device

[0042] an internal path from the left hand side endpoint to the righthand side endpoint

[0043] The internal path may include the first channel of the respectiveswitch device, zero or more additional channels of the respective switchdevice, and the second channel of the respective switch device. Theinternal path may specify a path within the respective switch devicefrom the first channel to the second channel. Thus, while the route as awhole may comprise a path passing through multiple switch devices, foreach respective switch device in the route, there may be an internalpath of channels within the respective switch device through which theroute passes. In some cases, the internal path may simply comprise aconnection from the left hand side endpoint channel to the right handside endpoint channel. In other cases, the internal path may passthrough one or more additional channels within the respective switchdevice.

[0044] When the user specifies a first (overall) endpoint for the route,the first endpoint may be displayed as the left hand side endpointwithin a first switch device. Similarly, when the user specifies asecond (overall) endpoint for the route, the second endpoint may bedisplayed as the right hand side endpoint within a second switch device.The internal paths for each of the switch devices in the route, togetherwith the hardwire connections connecting the switch devices may specifythe complete list of connections in the route.

[0045] The visual route editor may interface with the switch executivecore to automatically determine various aspects of the route, such asthe particular switch devices to include in the route, the particularinternal paths to use, etc., and may display icons representing theroute configuration. The user may interact with the displayed icons toalter the route as desired.

[0046] In one embodiment, after the user has graphically configuredindividual routes, the user may optionally configure one or more routegroups, wherein a route group comprises one or more routes or routegroups. For example, a route group may be used in a program to call afunction to set the switch devices to a state where the devices areoperable to perform each route in the route group.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0047]FIG. 1A illustrates general purpose switch configurationsaccording to the prior art;

[0048]FIG. 1B illustrates multiplexer configurations according to theprior art;

[0049]FIG. 1C illustrates matrix configurations according to the priorart;

[0050]FIG. 2 illustrates a typical automated test system, according toone embodiment of the invention;

[0051]FIG. 3 illustrates a typical PC-based automated test system,according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0052]FIG. 4 illustrates an abstraction of a virtual switch device,according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0053]FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a computer system, according to oneembodiment of the invention;

[0054]FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a switch executive software system,according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0055]FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a high-level execution of theswitch executive software system, according to one embodiment of theinvention;

[0056]FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating configuring a virtual switchdevice and graphically configuring routes, according to one embodimentof the invention;

[0057]FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method for creating a user program withroute configurations, and executing the program according to oneembodiment of the invention;

[0058]FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating visual design-time assistedrouting, according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0059]FIG. 11A is a diagram illustrating an empty state in the visualdesign-time assisted routing, according to one embodiment of theinvention;

[0060]FIG. 11B is a diagram illustrating selecting a first endpoint inthe visual design-time assisted routing, according to one embodiment ofthe invention;

[0061]FIG. 11C is a diagram illustrating selecting the right hand sideendpoint in visual design-time assisted routing, according to oneembodiment of the invention;

[0062]FIG. 11D is a diagram illustrating hardwired endpoints for visualdesign-time assisted routing, according to one embodiment of theinvention;

[0063]FIG. 11E is a diagram illustrating a created route using hardwirefor visual design-time assisted routing, according to one embodiment ofthe invention;

[0064]FIG. 11F is a diagram illustrating an internally created route forvisual designtime assisted routing, according to one embodiment of theinvention;

[0065]FIG. 11G is a diagram illustrating a broken wire which may requireinserting a new device for route completion for visual design-timeassisted routing, according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0066]FIG. 11H is a diagram illustrating a broken wire which may requireinserting a new device between devices 2 and 3 for route completion forvisual design-time assisted routing, according to one embodiment of theinvention;

[0067]FIG. 11I is a diagram illustrating created route for visualdesign-time assisted routing, according to one embodiment of theinvention;

[0068]FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an execution of a main userprogram that may use configured routes, according to one embodiment ofthe invention;

[0069]FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a method for National Instruments SwitchExecutive runtime auto-routing algorithm, according to one embodiment ofthe invention;

[0070]FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a method for a switch transitionreduction algorithm, software intervention in hardware state changes toimprove relay lifetime and reduction in execution time, according to oneembodiment of the invention;

[0071]FIG. 15A is a flowchart of a disconnect before connect, nomulticonnect route case for software intervention method in hardwarestate changes to improve relay lifetime and reduction in execution time,according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0072]FIG. 15B is a flowchart of a disconnect before connect,multiconnect route case for software intervention method in hardwarestate changes to improve relay lifetime and reduction in execution time,according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0073]FIG. 15C is a flowchart of a connect before disconnect, nomulticonnect route case for software intervention method in hardwarestate changes to improve relay lifetime and reduction in execution time,according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0074]FIG. 15D is a flowchart of a connect before disconnect,multiconnect route case for software intervention method in hardwarestate changes to improve relay lifetime and reduction in execution time,according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0075]FIG. 16 illustrates a graphical user interface of a Measurementand Automation Explorer (MAX) environment, according to one embodimentof the invention;

[0076]FIG. 17 illustrates a creation of a new unconfigured virtualswitch device, according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0077]FIG. 18 illustrates a naming and creation mode selection of thenew virtual switch device, according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0078]FIG. 19 illustrates a selection of switch devices to the newvirtual switch device, according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0079]FIG. 20 illustrates creation of a configured virtual switchdevice, according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0080]FIG. 21 illustrates a general configuration screen for theconfigured virtual switch device, comprising the physical switch devicethat constitute the configured virtual switch device, according to oneembodiment of the invention;

[0081]FIG. 22 illustrates a selection of new channel names,corresponding alias names, as well as attributes of the new channels,according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0082]FIG. 23 illustrates creation and selection of hardwires for thenew channels, according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0083]FIG. 24A illustrates a visual design-time assisted routing method,according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0084]FIG. 24B illustrates a configuration of signal requirements forvisual designtime assisted routing method, according to one embodimentof the invention;

[0085]FIG. 24C illustrates a configuration of dependencies for visualdesign-time assisted routing method, according to one embodiment of theinvention;

[0086]FIG. 24D illustrates a visual design-time assisted routing method,according to second embodiment of the invention;

[0087]FIG. 25 illustrates an exemplary system that may be used toillustrate the design time assisted routing method for a plurality ofswitch devices, according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0088]FIG. 26A illustrates one exemplary graphical user interface, alsoreferred to as a Visual Route Editor, to create a route from the commonchannel, according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0089]FIG. 26B illustrates one exemplary graphical user interface toselect the source channel, or a first endpoint, according to oneembodiment of the invention;

[0090]FIG. 26C illustrates one exemplary graphical user interface forselecting a destination channel, according to one embodiment of theinvention;

[0091]FIG. 26D illustrates one exemplary graphical user interface foradding another switch device into the routing path, according to oneembodiment of the invention;

[0092]FIG. 26E illustrates one exemplary graphical user interface foradding another switch device into the routing path, according to oneembodiment of the invention;

[0093]FIG. 27 illustrates a configuration of route groups, according toone embodiment;

[0094]FIG. 28 is a flowchart illustrating a creation of a graphicalprogram which uses configured routes, according to one embodiment of theinvention;

[0095]FIG. 29 illustrates a plurality of graphical program nodes used toconfigure switch devices and use configured routes, according to oneembodiment of the invention;

[0096]FIG. 30A illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to close a session, according to one embodimentof the invention;

[0097]FIG. 30B illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to connect the routes specified by the connectionspecification, according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0098]FIG. 30C illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to connect routes and disconnect routes,according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0099]FIG. 30D illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to disconnect specified routes, according to oneembodiment of the invention;

[0100]FIG. 30E illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to disconnect all routes, according to oneembodiment of the invention;

[0101]FIG. 30F illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to find a route between user specified channels,according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0102]FIG. 30G illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to retrieve switch device session for a switchdevice, according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0103]FIG. 30H illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to check if a switching system is debounced ornot, according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0104]FIG. 30I illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to open a session to a specified Switch ExecutiveVirtual Device, according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0105]FIG. 30J illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to wait for all of the switches in the SwitchExecutive virtual device to debounce, according to one embodiment of theinvention;

[0106]FIG. 31 illustrates a prior art graphical program for controllinga plurality of switch devices, according to one embodiment of theinvention;

[0107]FIG. 32 illustrates a graphical program for controlling aplurality of switch devices using pre-configured routes, according toone embodiment of the invention;

[0108]FIG. 33 illustrates a graphical program for controlling aplurality of switch devices using user entered route configurations,according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0109]FIG. 34 illustrates a graphical program that uses softwareintervention in hardware state changes to improve relay lifetime andreduction in execution time, according to one embodiment of theinvention;

[0110]FIG. 35 illustrates a graphical program for controlling aplurality of switch devices using pre-configured routes, according to asecond embodiment of the invention; and

[0111]FIG. 36 is a flowchart of a method for a configuration of avirtual switch management system, according to one embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0112] Incorporation by Reference

[0113] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/745,023 titled “System andMethod for Programmatically Generating a Graphical Program in Responseto Program Information,” filed Dec. 20, 2000, is hereby incorporated byreference as though fully and completely set forth herein.

[0114]FIG. 2—Exemplary Measurement Embodiment

[0115]FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an instrumentation or atest and measurement system according to one embodiment of theinvention. A system and method are described below for creating routesfor various test and measurement or instrumentation systems, and variousother types of systems, which use a switching system 104. As shown, FIG.2 includes an instrument system 102 comprising one or more instruments102A, 102B and 102C, which may couple through a switching system 104 toa receiver 106. The receiver 106 may in turn couple to a fixture 108,which then connects to a plurality of test points on a device under test(DUT) 110, also referred to as a unit under test (UUT).

[0116] The instrument system 102 may comprise any of various kinds ofinstruments, including oscilloscopes, multimeters, computer-basedinstruments, signal generation devices and various other types ofinstruments or measurement devices, as well as power supplies, amongothers. The instrument(s) 102A, 102B, 102C may have various formfactors. For example, the instrument(s) 102 may comprise a computercoupled to a GPIB instrument over a GPIB or IEEE 488 bus. Alternatively,the instrument system 102 may comprise a PXI chassis including a PXIcontroller and one or more PXI instruments, a computer system coupled toa PXI chassis which includes one or more PXI instruments, a computersystem which includes a computer-based instrument card, such as anoscilloscope or multimeter card, such as those available from NationalInstruments Corporation, a VXI chassis including one or more VXIinstruments, a system including a data acquisition card, or atraditional standalone instrument such as those available from Agilent,Tektronix, Keithley and others. The instrument system 102 may alsocomprise an image acquisition or machine vision system, such as acomputer system including a video capture or image processing board, ora motion control device. Further, the instrument(s) 102 may comprisevarious types of industrial automation, control devices, or otherdevices, such as a programmable logic device (PLD), programmable logiccontroller (PLC), a distributed I/O system such as FieldPoint availablefrom National Instruments Corporation, or other type of device. Ingeneral, the instrument system or measurement system 102 may compriseany of various kinds of devices operable to acquire or generate signals.

[0117] The switching system 104 may comprise one or more switch devices.As noted above, a switch device may comprise switches of various typesincluding general-purpose switches, multiplexers and matrix switchesamong others. In a typical configuration, the switching system 104 maycomprise a rack or chassis adapted to receive one or more switch cards.One example of a switching system is the SCXI (Signal Conditioningextensions for Instrumentation) System available from NationalInstruments Corporation. An SCXI chassis may contain one or more switchdevices as well as other types of signal conditioning cards such as forisolation filtering etc. The switching system 104 may comprise switchdevices from various different vendors as well. As discussed below withreference to FIG. 4, the computer system 101 may be operable toconfigure one or more switch devices, possibly from different vendors,as a single virtual switch device 105, thus simplifying operation of theswitching system 104 to the user.

[0118] As shown, the various switch devices in the switching system 104couple to the instrument through various wires or cables. Another commonswitching system configuration is a rack-mounted system wherein theswitch devices are arranged vertically with various wires or cablesconnecting the switch devices together.

[0119] The various switch devices in the switching system 104 may alsoinclude one or more hardwire connections. A hardwire connection may be aconnection made using a physical wire segment between a first channel ona first switch device and a second channel on a second switch device.This facilitates use of the multiple switch devices as a single virtualswitch device 105. For example, the user may utilize a visual routeeditor to create a route utilizing channels of both the first switchdevice and the second switch device, wherein a hardwire connectionconnects the first switch device to the second switch device. A commonexample of a hardwire would be an analog bus that allows for the chassisto provide interconnects between modules.

[0120] The receiver 106 may couple to the various switch devices in theswitching system 104 through various wires or cables as shown. Thereceiver 106 may couple to the fixture 108. The fixture 108 may separateout all the signal lines and couple the signal lines to the device undertest. As shown, the receiver 106 may provide a custom interface for eachsignal line. The fixture 108 may provide a custom interface on a perproduct basis. The receiver 106 and the fixture 108 may simplify thetask of creating and dismantling measurement and test systems coupled tovarious devices or units under test 110.

[0121] The device under test (DUT) 110, also called a unit under test(UUT) 110, may be one of any of various devices that are desired to betested. In one embodiment, one or more various types of sensors may becoupled to the device under test 110 to transduce a physical phenomenagenerated by the DUT into electrical signals for providing through thefixture 108 and receiver 106 and through the switching system 104 to theinstrument system 102. Examples of various sensors or transducersinclude thermisters, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, microphones,RTDs, strain gauges, etc. The DUT 110 may be operable to generatesignals to the instrument system 102, i.e., may generate phenomena thatare transduced into signals for receipt by the instrument system 102.Also, the instrument system 102 may include an arbitrary waveformgenerator or other signal generation capability to stimulate or controlthe device under test. Thus, the switching system 104 may act as aconduit for two-way communication between the instrument system 102 andthe DUT 110.

[0122]FIG. 3—Exemplary Computer Based Automated Test System

[0123]FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a computer-basedautomated test system comprising a computer system 101 coupled to aninstrument system 102. The instrument system 102 is coupled to theswitching system 104, which in turn couples to the UUT 110. Theinstrument system 102 and the switching system 104 are shown together inFIG. 3 and are referred to below as the instrument/switching system102/104. As shown, the computer 101 may comprise a separate computersystem, which may couple to the instrument/switching system 102/104. Theinstrument/switching system 104 may comprise various chassis, such asvarious PXI and/or SCXI chassis. One or more measurement devices orinstruments 102A, 102B, 102C may be comprised in the computer 101 or inthe instrument system 102.

[0124] The computer system 101 may include a memory, which stores aswitch executive software program according to one embodiment of theinvention. During execution, the switch executive software program mayquery the various switch devices contained in the switching system 104and use information obtained from these switch devices to aid increating route configurations. Further, the computer system 101 maystore various switch instrument drivers 210, 212 214, which includeinformation regarding the various switch devices that they control. Inone embodiment, one or more of the switch devices may be IVI-compliantswitch devices, and various IVI switch instrument drivers 210 comprisedin the computer system may be operable to publish information regardingcapabilities of the IVI-compliant switch devices that they control.

[0125] In another embodiment, the computer system 101 may be implementedas a card comprised in one of the chassis of the instrument/switchingsystem 102/104. For example, the rack shown in FIG. 3 may include one ormore PXI chassis and one or more SCXI chassis. The computer system mayoptionally be implemented as a PXI card contained in a PXI chassis ofthe rack. A monitor or display device, as well as various I/O devicessuch as a mouse or keyboard, may connect to the card in order to providea user interface to aid the user in using the computer system. Theoperation of the switch executive software program is discussed ingreater detail below.

[0126]FIG. 4—Virtual Switch Device

[0127]FIG. 4 is a block diagram, which illustrates the computer system101, which maintains a virtual switch device 105. The virtual switchdevice 105 may comprise a software entity or a software object whichrepresents one or more of the switch devices contained in the switchingsystem 104. The term “virtual switch device” may also refer to one ormore hardware switch devices that operate as a single virtual switch.The user may select one or more of the physical switch devices forinclusion in the virtual switch device 105. In the example shown in FIG.4, the virtual switch device 105 encompasses software for n switchdevices, referred to as switch 1, switch 2, . . . switch n. The switchdevices in the virtual switch device 105 software object may couple tothe UUT 110.

[0128]FIG. 5—Computer System Block Diagram

[0129]FIG. 5 is a block diagram representing one embodiment of thecomputer system 101 illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. It is noted that anytype of computer system configuration or architecture can be used asdesired, and FIG. 5 illustrates a representative PC embodiment. It isalso noted that the computer system may be a general purpose computersystem, a computer implemented on a VXI card installed in a VXI chassis,a computer implemented on a PXI card installed in a PXI chassis, orother types of embodiments. Elements of a computer not necessary tounderstand the present description have been omitted for simplicity.

[0130] The computer may include at least one central processing unit orCPU 160 which is coupled to a processor or host bus 162. The CPU 160 maybe any of various types, including an x86 processor, e.g., a Pentiumclass, a PowerPC processor, a CPU from the SPARC family of RISCprocessors, as well as others. Main memory 166 may be coupled to thehost bus 162 by means of memory controller 164. The main memory 166 maystore the switch executive software program operable to generateconfigured routes and/or configure switch devices as described herein.The main memory 166 may also store switch instrument drivers forcommunicating with switch devices. The main memory 166 may further storean application program that uses route created using the switchexecutive software program. The main memory 166 may also store operatingsystem software, as well as other software for operation of the computersystem.

[0131] The host bus 162 may be coupled to an expansion or input/outputbus 170 by means of a bus controller 168 or bus bridge logic. Theexpansion bus 170 may be the PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)expansion bus, although other bus types can be used. The expansion bus170 includes slots for various devices such as a data acquisition board114. The computer system 101 further comprises a video display subsystem180 and a hard drive 182 coupled to the expansion bus 170.

[0132] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the instrument system 102includes a data acquisition (DAQ) card 114. The DAQ card 114 may coupleto a switching system chassis, such as an SCXI chassis 104, whichcomprises one or more switch devices. These one or more switch devicesmay in turn couple to a UUT 110. As noted above, various otherembodiments are contemplated, such as a PXI system which includes a PXIinstrument card in one or more PXI switch devices, a VXI system whichincludes a VXI system instrument card in one or more VXI switch devices,and other form factors including distributed I/O systems such asFieldPoint available from National Instruments.

[0133]FIG. 6—Exemplary Block Diagram of a Switch Executive SoftwareSystem

[0134]FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary software architecture of varioussoftware programs present on or used by the computer system 101 duringcreation of configured routes. As shown, the software architecture maycomprise a configuration development environment 202 which interfaceswith a switch executive core 204. An application development environment(ADE) 206 may interface with the switch executive core 204. The switchexecutive core 204 may be operable to generate configuration data 208,comprising configured routes (also referred to herein simply as“routes”). The ADE 206 may be utilized to create application programsthat use the configured routes, such as test and measurement programsthat use the routes to connect to a unit under test.

[0135] In one embodiment, the switch executive core 204 may interfacewith one or more switch instrument drivers, such as an IVI switch devicedriver 210. The IVI switch device driver 210 may in turn interface withvarious vendor-specific switch instrument drivers such as NI-Switch 212available from National Instruments Corporation and/or various otherthird-party switch drivers 214. In another embodiment, the switchexecutive core 204 may interface directly to a specific switch devicedriver, such as the NI-Switch device driver 212.

[0136] The configuration development environment 202 may provide agraphical user interface of the switch executive program, which may beused by a user in creating configured routes. According to oneembodiment of the invention, the configuration development environment202 implements a visual route editor or graphical route editor thatprovides a graphical user interface enabling a user to graphically orvisually create and/or edit routes. The visual route editor may allowfor interactive route editing including modification of route endpoints,insertion and removal of devices and hard wires into a route, and mayprovide an intuitive graphical response as to the validity of routesbeing created. In one embodiment, the configuration developmentenvironment may also provide other design-time assisted routing tofurther simplify the creation of route configurations by a user, asexplained in FIGS. 10, 11A-11I, and FIGS. 25, 26A-26E.

[0137] In some prior art systems, creating routes between differentchannels in a switching system requires intimate knowledge of all of thechannels and switch devices being used. In systems where the channelcount is quite large (in many cases on the order of 10³), this can be avery laborious task with many options. In many cases, there are multiplepotential ways to complete a route, but a very large number of paths maymake the completion of routes very difficult and time consuming.

[0138] The switch executive core 204 may use an algorithm that allowsusers to partially specify sections of the problem, i.e., partiallyspecify sections of the route. If the switch executive core 204 can finda solution fitting the partial specification, the switch executive coremay return the solution. If the switch executive core cannot find a fullsolution, the switch executive core may present a partial solution,along with options of steps to take next. The switch executive core 204may also present solutions comprising a valid solution along with otherpotential solutions.

[0139] During the process of graphically creating a route, the route maybe constantly validated. This powerful feature may advantageously allowuser to create custom routes, with the creation being validated duringthe process.

[0140] The switch executive core 204 provides a “core”, “engine”, orlogic of the switch executive software program for facilitating thevarious features described above. As shown, an application developmentenvironment (ADE) 206 may be used to interface with the switch executivecore 204 through a defined application programming interface (API).Example ADEs include TestStand, LabVIEW, Measurement Studio, Visual C++and others. The API presented by the switch executive core 204 may beused by any of various application programs, including those fromNational Instruments Corporation and other vendors.

[0141] Software interfaces to instruments are called instrument drivers.Instrument drivers are generally designed to provide high-level functioncalls that abstract the details of programming an instrument forspecific actions. The Interchangable Virtual Instrument (IVI) standard,is one example of a standard programming interface for instrumentdrivers. The IVI specification defines architecture for IVI systems thatincorporate productivity features. These features include instrumentinterchangeability, instrument simulation, and system performance. TheIVI drivers include a plurality of driver classes, one for each type ofan instrument, comprising DMMs, oscilloscopes, DC power supplies,arbitrary waveform or function generators, switch devices, and otherinstruments.

[0142] The IVI switch device driver 210, shown in FIG. 6, is one exampleof a switch device driver. An example of an IVI switch device driver isan NI-Switch device driver 212. Block 214 refers to various other switchinstrument drivers 210 provided by third-party switch device vendors. Itis noted that the switch device driver software architecture of elements210, 212 and 214 may be specific to the IVI implementation of classdrivers and specific drivers. In an alternate embodiment, the switchexecutive core 204 may interface to a single switch device driver layerwherein one or more switch instrument drivers may be present at thislayer to interface with one or more switch devices.

[0143] In one embodiment, the switch executive core 204 may be operableto query one or more of the switch instrument drivers 210, 214, 212 toobtain information regarding the respective switch device controlled.For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the switch executivecore 204 is operable to query the switch device driver 210, 212, 214 toobtain detailed capability information on the respective switch devicethat the driver controls.

[0144] The switch device driver 210, 212, 214 may determine thecapability of establishing a route between any two channels on a singledevice. A switch device driver for a particular switch device may haveno knowledge, however, of other switch devices and interconnects in thesystem. The switch executive core 204 provides the capability of findinga configured route between any two channels in a switching system,whether or not the channels reside on the same device. As describedbelow, the switch executive core 204 may use an algorithm for limitingthe solution space and finding valid routes efficiently.

[0145] In one embodiment, the switch executive core 204 may not maintainany topology information for the switch devices it controls. Also, theswitch executive core 204 may not require that the computer systemexecuting the switch executive core 204 be physically connected to theswitch devices to create routes. The switch executive core 204 may usethe ability of the switch instrument drivers 210, 212, 214 to createconfigured routes in a simulation mode. Using multiple simulationsessions, the switch executive core 204 may create different hardwarestate configurations without actually controlling any hardware.

[0146] The configuration data 208 may comprise configured routes createdby the user in response to using the switch executive software. Theconfigured routes may define one or more routes and/or route groups usedfor controlling a switching system 104 which may comprise multipleswitch devices. The configured routes may be used in applicationdevelopment environments such as LabVIEW or Measurement Studio tocontrol a switching system 104 during an instrumentation or ameasurement application. For example, the user may create an applicationusing an ADE, wherein the application utilizes an API of the switchexecutive core 204 to request the switch executive core 204 to configurethe switch devices according to one or more of the stored configuredroutes.

[0147]FIG. 7—Flowchart Diagram of Execution of a Switch ExecutiveSoftware System

[0148]FIG. 7 is a high level flowchart diagram illustrating oneembodiment of a method for creating and using configured routes. Variousof the steps in FIG. 7 are described in greater detail in the figuresthat follow.

[0149] In step 302 the user may set up the hardware configurations forthe switching system 104 and the instrument system 102, such asdescribed below with reference to FIG. 8.

[0150] In step 303 the user may configure the virtual switch device 105,including specifying various switch devices of the switching system 104for inclusion in the virtual switch device 105.

[0151] In step 315 the user may create configured routes utilizing oneor more devices in the virtual switch device 105, such as described withreference to FIG. 8 and FIG. 36. Step 315 may comprise the userutilizing a visual route editor to graphically or visually create theroutes.

[0152] In step 341 the user may create a program using configuredroutes, such as a text-based program or a graphical program such asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 28 through FIG. 35.

[0153] In step 356 the user may execute the program using configuredroutes in order to control switch devices in the virtual switch device105 and the instrument system 102.

[0154] It is noted that the flowchart of FIG. 7 is exemplary only.Further, various steps in the flowchart of FIG. 7 may occur concurrentlyor in different order than that shown, or may not be performed, asdesired. Also, various additional steps may be performed as desired.

[0155]FIG. 8—Flowchart Diagram of Configuration of a Virtual SwitchDevice

[0156]FIG. 8 is a flowchart diagram illustrating a configuration of avirtual switch device 105, according to one embodiment of the invention.The flowchart of FIG. 8 illustrates steps 303 and 315 of FIG. 7 ingreater detail. In the flowchart of FIG. 8, it is presumed that the userhas a computer system 101 executing the switch executive software, whichmay interface with a switching system 104 that comprises one or moreswitch devices. It is further presumed that the computer system 101 maystore one or more switch instrument drivers 210, 212, 214 forcontrolling the switch devices.

[0157] As shown, in step 302 the user may set up the hardwareconfiguration of the switching system 104 and instrument system 102.Setting up the instrument system 102 may comprise coupling one or moreinstruments, e.g., 102A, 102B, 102C, to a computer system 101, e.g., asa card comprised in the computer system 101 or in a separate chassis ora separate standalone instrument. The instrument(s) may also beconnected to the switching system 104. Setting up the switching system104 may comprise installing one or more switch devices in the switchingsystem 104.

[0158] In step 304 the switch executive core 204 may create a virtualswitch device 105, such as described above with reference to FIG. 4,using a switch configuration wizard. The switch executive core 204 maybe operable to display a switch configuration wizard, i.e., one or moreGUI dialogs or windows for receiving user input regarding the virtualswitch device 105. The switch executive core 204 may create and/ormodify the virtual switch device 105 in response to user input to thewizard.

[0159] In step 306 the user may have various options on how to configurethe newly created virtual switch device 105, including importing avirtual switch device 105 configuration that has been previously createdfrom a file, or the user may manually associate external switch devicesto create a new virtual switch device 105.

[0160] In step 308 the user may manually associate switch devices withthe virtual switch device 105. The switch devices may be coupled to thecomputer system 101 and to the UUT 110. For example, the method mayoperate to display a list of switch devices coupled to the computersystem 101. Graphical user input specifying the desired switch devicesto associate with the virtual switch device 105 may then be received.The switch executive core 204 may query various switch instrumentdrivers 210, 212, 214 to determine the type and capabilities of each ofthe respective switch devices comprised in the switching system 104. Forthose switch devices that are not automatically detected, the user maymanually input or select respective switch devices present in theswitching system 104. The switch configuration wizard graphical userinterface may show the user the various switch devices present in theswitching system 104. In one embodiment, the user may graphically selectone or more of the switch devices together to create a virtual switchdevice 105. For example, if five switch devices are present in theswitching system 104, the user may select one or more of these switchdevices to configure the virtual switch device 105.

[0161] In step 310 the user may graphically configure individualchannels in the virtual switch device 105. The user may have an optionto enter alias names in lieu of default channel names provided by thecomputer, as well as comments to help the user associate the namedchannel with the actual operation of that channel. The user also may seedifferent attributes and/or resources for the given channel such asbandwidth of the channel, impedance of the channel, speed, current andother parameters. The user also may have a choice of channel typeselection comprising a normal channel, a configuration channel or asource channel. Channel types may be defined by switch instrumentdrivers 210, 212, 214 or they may be user configured. In the visualroute editor, the switch executive core 204 may use a normal channel asa configuration channel automatically if there is not already a userdefined configuration channel for use.

[0162] A source channel is a channel that is being denoted as used by asignal source. The switch executive core 204 may not allow the user toconnect two source channels together, either directly or indirectly,serving as a software protection mechanism that may prevent channelsfrom being connected that may cause a hardware problem.

[0163] A configuration channel is essentially a channel that the userdoes not plan on directly connecting to any signals. The configurationchannel may be reserved for use by the switch executive core 204 for usein route paths between other channels. A row may be marked as aconfiguration channel to connect two columns in a matrix.

[0164] A normal channel is a channel that is not a configuration channelor a source channel. The switch executive core 204 may use normalchannels as endpoints in a route.

[0165] The switch executive core 204 may also provide a way to defineand use hardwired connections between channels. In step 312 the user maygraphically configure hardwire connections or use previously configuredhardwires on the physical switch devices that connect the various switchdevices together in the switching system 104. In step 312 the user maygraphically configure or enter information into the computer system 101regarding the various hardwire connections that are present between thevarious switch devices in the switching system 104. In anotherembodiment, the switch executive core may detect connections betweenchannels and automatically create hardwires.

[0166] In step 314 if the user is performing design-time assistedrouting, then operation may proceed to step 316. If the user desires notto perform design-time assisted routing, which means that run-time ormanual routing may be performed, then operation may proceed directly tostep 320 (done). Design-time assisted routing may comprise the usercreating routes with the aid of the visual route editor describedherein. For example, the routes may be pre-configured and later used ina program. In run-time routing, the route(s) may not be pre-configured,and a route between two channels may be dynamically determined atrun-time of a program. In manual routing, the user may specify anexplicit route between two channels, e.g., may provide informationidentifying each of the switches or channels through which the routepasses.

[0167] If the user is performing design-time assisted routing in step314, then in step 316 the user may graphically configure routinginformation between channels including various resources anddependencies. The operation of step 316 is described in greater detailin the flowcharts of FIG. 10, and FIGS. 11A-11I.

[0168] For design-time assisted routing, the switch executive core 204may use a visual route editor to create routes. The visual route editormay allow for interactive route editing, including modification of routeendpoints, insertion and removal of devices and hardwires into a path,and may provide graphical response as to the validity of the route. Inother embodiments, the visual route editor may allow for fullyinteractive editing of the displayed route. This represents a majorimprovement over text/list schemes without graphical feedback.

[0169] In addition to allowing the specification of endpoints and routepaths, the switch executive core 204 also may allow users to specifydesired signal characteristics. This ensures that the switches used inthe routing path can carry a signal matching the user's desired signalcharacteristics. Switch devices are available in a variety of types andare made for different purposes. By utilizing desired signalcharacteristics, the switch executive core 204 can pick channels onswitches that meet these characteristics. The switch executive core 204also may allow users to specify any other routes that they expect tocoexist with the selected route. This allows the switch executive core204 to avoid using any route elements that would create a resourceconflict. In other embodiments, additional criteria may be used to findappropriate routes.

[0170] In one embodiment, instead of trying to keep track of hardwaretopologies for all of the switch devices, the switch executive core 204may use the switch instrument drivers directly 210, 212, 214, thuseliminating the need for performing maintenance work on the topologyfiles for the switch devices. The switch executive core 204 may querythe switch instrument drivers 210, 212, 214 to determine switch system104 routing information, then defer to the switch instrument drivers210, 212, 214 to handle intra-device routing.

[0171] After the user has graphically configured routing informationbetween channels, in step 318 the user may optionally configure routegroups, where a route group comprises a plurality of routes.

[0172] It is noted that the flowchart of FIG. 8 is exemplary only.Further, various steps in the flowchart of FIG. 8 may occur concurrentlyor in different order than that shown, or may not be performed, asdesired. Also, various additional steps may be performed as desired.

[0173]FIG. 9—User Program Execution with Switch Routing Information

[0174]FIG. 9 is a flowchart diagram illustrating one embodiment of amethod for creating a user program that uses one or more routes tocontrol or configure one or more switch devices. The flowchart of FIG. 9illustrates step 341 of FIG. 7 in greater detail. It is noted thatvarious steps of FIG. 9 may be performed in different orders or may becombined.

[0175] In step 342 the user may begin creating an application programfor controlling one or more virtual switch devices 105. The applicationprogram may be a test or measurement program, an instrumentationprogram, an industrial automation program, or any other type of programwhich requires the use of switch devices. The program may be createdusing any of various programming environments or languages, orcombination of environments and languages. In one embodiment, theprogram may be a text-based program, e.g., a program written in atext-based programming language such as C, C++, Visual Basic, Java, oranother text-based programming language. In another embodiment theprogram may be a graphical program, e.g., a program comprising aplurality of interconnected nodes that visually indicate functionalityof the program. For example, in one embodiment, the user may create agraphical program using the LabVIEW graphical programming developmentenvironment.

[0176] In step 344 the user may decide how to incorporate the routingfunctionality in the application program. For example, the user may: 1)use routes that were previously configured using the visual routeeditor; 2) use run-time routing techniques; and/or 3) use manual routingtechniques.

[0177] For example, step 346 illustrates the use of a configured routepreviously created using design-time assisted routing such as describedwith respect to FIG. 7. Step 346 may involve configuring the program touse an API provided by the switch executive core 204. For example, ifthe program is a text-based program, the user may include one or morefunction or method calls of the API, e.g., which pass the configuredroutes as parameters, e.g., to programmatically to configure the variousswitch devices. As another example, if the program is a graphicalprogram, the user may include one or more graphical nodes in the programwhich receive the configured routes, e.g., as input wires, and use theconfigured routes e.g., to programmatically to configure the variousswitch devices. As discussed further below, using a configured route ina graphical program may comprise connecting an icon representing theconfigured route to a switch node in the graphical program. The creationof a graphical program that uses one or more configured routes isdescribed below with respect to FIGS. 28-35.

[0178] As shown in step 348, the user may also or may alternatively userun-time auto-routing to cause the switch executive core to dynamicallydetermine one or more routes. For example, the user may enter two routeendpoints, and then the run-time auto-routing algorithm may find a routebetween the two route endpoints, such as described below with referenceto FIG. 13. In one embodiment, the switch executive core may dynamicallydetermine the route when the program is executed. In another embodiment,the switch executive core may dynamically determine the route atedit-time of the program. For example, in response to the user providingthe two route endpoints to a node in a graphical program, the switchexecutive core may be invoked to try to determine a route between thetwo endpoints. This may useful, for example, if there is no valid routebetween the two endpoints, so that the user may receive feedbackinforming him of the problem before the program is actually executed.

[0179] As shown in step 350, the user may also or may alternativelyenter one or more routes manually, e.g., via a text-based orstring-based format. The desired route list may be provided, comprisingchannels on one or more switch devices, or desired routes comprisingcomplete route paths between the channels, and source and destinationendpoints.

[0180] In one embodiment, the program may combine the various techniquesof steps 346, 348, and 350. For example, a first portion of the programmay use a pre-configured route to configure the switch devices, and asecond portion of the program may use a route dynamically determined atrun-time to configure the switch devices.

[0181] In each of steps 346, 348 and 350, the user may specify aconnect/disconnect function between various routes in the applicationprogram. As discussed further below, when the switch executive core 204executes to configure the desired routes, the switch executive core 204may operate to intelligently manage connects and disconnects toaccomplish optimized changes in routes that may reduce or eliminateunnecessary connects and disconnects of the switch devices. The softwareintervention in hardware state may improve relay lifetime and reduceexecution time, and is discussed in greater detail with respect to theflowchart of FIG. 14 and FIGS. 15A through 15D.

[0182] As shown in step 352, after the portions of the program usingroutes have been specified, then operation may proceed to step 354. Instep 354 the user may create the rest of the application program. Forexample, creating the rest of the program may comprise includingfunctionality in the program to perform a test and measurement orinstrumentation application, e.g., where data is sent to or receivedfrom a data sink/source accessible through the switch devices configuredby the routing described above. It is noted that in various embodiments,the steps of FIG. 9 may be performed in various orders, may be performedmultiple times, or may be interleaved. Thus, the user may create theprogram in any desired manner or order.

[0183] When the application program is complete, the program may beexecuted, as shown in step 356. During execution, the applicationprogram may control or configure the one or more virtual switch devices105 according to the routes specified in any one or more of steps 346,348 or 350.

[0184] It is noted that the flowchart of FIG. 9 is exemplary only.Further, various steps in the flowchart of FIG. 9 may occur concurrentlyor in different order than that shown, or may not be performed, asdesired. Also, various additional steps may be performed as desired.

[0185]FIG. 10

[0186]FIG. 10 is a flowchart diagram which illustrates one embodiment ofoperation of steps 310-316 of FIG. 8, including visual design-timeassisted routing, or graphical routing configuration between channels.Route paths may include internal connections between channels on thesame switch device, as well as external connections using a hardwirebetween channels on different switch devices. The route may connect aleft hand side endpoint and a right hand side endpoint. The endpointsmay be connected through one or more switch devices, and may involve aplurality of channels of one or more types. The designation of one ofthe endpoints as a left hand side endpoint and the other as a right handside endpoint may be arbitrary and may signify the graphicalrepresentation of the route in the visual route editor, as shown inFIGS. 11A-11I.

[0187] In step 362 the user may create necessary channels andconnections for a switching application. This may include graphicallyconfiguring individual channels in the virtual switch device 105 (Step310), as well as graphically configuring hardwire connections in thevirtual switch device 105 (Step 312). The user may also have one or morechances to configure more devices, channels, and/or hardwires in steps372 and 376.

[0188] In step 364 the user may add a first route or copy an existingroute. When the user first adds the first route, the first route may be“empty”, and the user may then provide input to complete the first routeas described below. The user may assign the first route an alias name.The alias name may be utilized by the user for convenience. For example,the alias name “Oscilloscope CH0” may be more descriptive than “C5”, anexemplary default name.

[0189] In step 366 the user may define desired signal characteristicsand/or resources for the first route. Desired signal characteristicscomprise parameters such as voltage, current, resistance, and speedrequirements. For example, if a user selects a current requirement of 5Amps (A), the visual route editor may filter channels so that onlychannels on switch devices capable of carrying a 5 A current aredisplayed for selection for inclusion in the route. In other words,desired signal characteristics help filter out unsuitable channels.Signal resources comprise other route requirements comprisingdependencies on specific channels.

[0190] In step 368 the user may set route requirements, e.g., mayspecify that use of certain hardwires is required. Certain hardwires mayneed to be reserved for use with specific routes or route groups.

[0191] In step 370, the user may graphically choose two endpoints forthe first route. For example, FIGS. 11A-11I illustrate an exemplarygraphical user interface enabling the user to graphically choose theendpoints. The two endpoints may exist on a same switch device, or theymay exist on two separate switching devices on the same virtual switchdevice 105. One of the endpoints maybe coupled to an instrument102A/102B/102C for the purpose of acquiring data or generating a signal.The other endpoint may be coupled to the UUT 110 for the purpose ofacquiring data and/or stimulating the device under test. The user mayuse alias names for the endpoints for ease of configuration.

[0192] In step 372, the switch executive core 204 may decide if thefirst route is complete and/or valid. The algorithm for steps 372through 378 is illustrated in FIGS. 11A through 11I. If the switchexecutive core 204 decides that the route is not complete, in step 374the user has a choice to add other switch devices and/or hardwires tothe first route, automatically complete the first route using the switchexecutive, or manually edit the first route. After executing step 374the switch executive core 204 may perform step 372 again to determine ifthe modified first route is complete. In one embodiment, the user mayallow the switch executive core to perform a more complete routingalgorithm in an attempt to automatically complete the first route.

[0193] In step 376 the user may wish to select a different route ormodify the first route even if the first route information is completeand correct. If the user decides to choose a different route or modifythe first route, the user may choose different hardwires, devices, orinternal connections that may alter the route path. If the user choosesa different route or modifies the first route in this manner, the switchexecutive core 204 may execute step 372 again to examine if the route iscomplete.

[0194] In step 380, the user may want to add more configured routes, asshown by the arrow to step 364. If all of the routes have beenconfigured (step 382), then the visual design-time assisted routing iscomplete for the virtual switch. The user now may proceed to create andexecute a user program that utilizes the configured routes, as describedabove.

[0195] It is noted that the flowchart of FIG. 10 is exemplary only.Further, various steps in the flowchart of FIG. 10 may occurconcurrently or in different order than that shown, or may not beperformed, as desired. Also, various additional steps may be performedas desired.

[0196] Creating a route in a graphical manner may comprise displayingvarious icons representing hardware elements in the route and displayingwires connecting the icons to indicate that the route passes through therespective hardware elements. For example, user input may be received tothe graphical user interface of the visual route editor specifying afirst endpoint of the route, wherein the first endpoint comprises achannel of a first switch device. In response, a first icon representingthe first switch device may be displayed. User input may then bereceived to the graphical user interface of the visual route editorspecifying a second endpoint of the route, wherein the second endpointcomprises a channel of a second switch device. In response, a secondicon representing the second switch device may be displayed. The firsticon and the second icon may visually indicate that the route passesfrom the first channel of the first switch device to the second channelof the second switch device.

[0197] One or more icons may be displayed between the first iconrepresenting the first switch device and the second icon representingthe second switch device. The visual route editor may interface with theswitch executive core to automatically determine one or more additionalelements that complete the route from the first endpoint to the secondendpoint and may display icons representing the one or more additionalelements to indicate the completed route.

[0198] As one example, a hardwire connection between the first switchdevice and the second switch device may be determined. A hardwireconnection icon may be displayed between the first icon and the secondicon. A first wire may be displayed to connect the first icon to thehardwire connection icon, and a second wire may be displayed to connectthe hardwire connection icon to the second icon. The first and secondwires may visually indicate that the route passes through the firstswitch device, the hardwire connection, and the second switch device.

[0199] The visual route editor/switch executive core may also determinethat a second hardwire connection also exists between the first switchdevice and the second switch device. In this case, the user may be ableto provide input to the graphical user interface to request to use thesecond hardwire connection instead of the first hardwire connection. Inresponse, the hardwire connection icon may be re-displayed to visuallyindicate that the route passes through the second hardwire connection.For example, in one embodiment, the user may be able to interact withthe hardwire connection icon itself to request to use a differenthardwire connection, e.g., by choosing a different hardwire connectionfrom a displayed list of available hardwire connections between thefirst switch device and the second switch device.

[0200] If there is no hardwire connection between the first switchdevice and the second switch device, the visual route editor mayvisually indicate that the route from the first channel of the firstswitch device to the second channel of the second switch device isincomplete. In this case, the user may specify a third switch device toinsert in the route between the first switch device and the secondswitch device. In response, a third icon representing the third switchdevice may be displayed. If a first hardwire connection exists betweenthe first switch device and the third switch device, and a secondhardwire connection exists between the third switch device and thesecond switch device, then the route may be completed. For example, afirst hardwire connection icon and associated wires may be displayed tovisually indicate that the route passes from the first switch devicethrough the first hardwire connection to the third switch device. Asecond hardwire connection icon and associated wires may be displayed tovisually indicate that the route passes from the third switch devicethrough the second hardwire connection to the second switch device.

[0201] In various embodiments, the icons representing hardware elementsin the route may have any of various appearances and may display varioustypes of information. In one embodiment described herein, an iconrepresenting a switch device may display information specifying:

[0202] a name of the respective switch device

[0203] a left hand side endpoint for the respective switch device,wherein the left hand side endpoint comprises a first channel of therespective switch device

[0204] right hand side endpoint for the respective switch device,wherein the right hand side endpoint comprises a second channel of therespective switch device

[0205] an internal path from the left hand side endpoint to the righthand side endpoint

[0206] The internal path may include the first channel of the respectiveswitch device, zero or more additional channels of the respective switchdevice, and the second channel of the respective switch device. Theinternal path may specify a path within the respective switch devicefrom the first channel to the second channel. Thus, while the route as awhole may comprise a path passing through multiple switch devices, foreach respective switch device in the route, there may be an internalpath of channels within the respective switch device through which theroute passes. In some cases, the internal path may simply comprise aconnection from the left hand side endpoint channel to the right handside endpoint channel. In other cases, the internal path may passthrough one or more additional channels within the respective switchdevice.

[0207] When the user specifies a first (overall) endpoint for the route,the first endpoint may be displayed as the left hand side endpointwithin a first switch device. Similarly, when the user specifies asecond (overall) endpoint for the route, the second endpoint may bedisplayed as the right hand side endpoint within a second switch device.The internal paths for each of the switch devices in the route, togetherwith the hardwire connections connecting the switch devices may specifythe complete list of connections in the route.

[0208] The visual route editor may interface with the switch executivecore to automatically determine various aspects of the route, such asthe particular switch devices to include in the route, the particularinternal paths to use, etc., and may display icons representing theroute configuration. The user may interact with the displayed icons toalter the route as desired.

[0209]FIGS. 11A through 11I illustrate exemplary steps involved ingraphically configuring a route, according to one embodiment. In thisembodiment, a visual representation of a switch device is displayed as arectangular box comprising four values. As shown in FIG. 11A, from thetop of the box, the first value may represent the switch device name.The second value may represent a left hand side endpoint (LHS) of theswitch device. The fourth value may represent a right hand side endpoint(RHS) of the switch device.

[0210] Thus, there may be one left hand side endpoint and one right handside endpoint for the entire route, as described above with reference toFIG. 10, and in addition, for each connection within the route from afirst channel of a switch device to a second channel of the switchdevice, the connection may be described as having a left hand sideendpoint (the first channel) and a right hand side endpoint (the secondchannel).

[0211] The third value in the rectangular box may represent an internalpath in the switch device between the left hand side endpoint of theswitch device and the right hand side endpoint of the switch device. Inthe visual representation of the switch device, the four values may haveone or more states, comprising a “value known” or “not optional” state(represented as a filled-in rectangle), and a “value unknown” or“optional” state (represented as a blank rectangle). In the followingdescription of FIGS. 11A-11I, an exemplary scenario of creating a firstroute in response to user input is discussed.

[0212]FIG. 11A

[0213]FIG. 11A is a diagram illustrating an empty state in the visualdesign-time assisted routing, according to one embodiment of theinvention. FIG. 11A may represent the state of the graphical userinterface of the visual route editor of FIG. 10. In FIG. 11A, the switchexecutive core 204 may be waiting on the user to visually select twoendpoints for the first route. The endpoints may be selected by theiralias name created in step 364, or by names of a first and secondchannel. No visual representation of a switch device may be displayed atthis point, since the user has not yet selected an endpoint. The switchexecutive core 204 may prompt the user to enter two endpoints, a righthand side endpoint and a left hand side endpoint. Either of theendpoints can exist on any switch device in the virtual switch device105. The next step is illustrated in FIGS. 11B-11C.

[0214]FIG. 11B

[0215]FIG. 11B illustrates one of the embodiment of the next useraction, where the user first selects a left hand side (LHS) endpoint. Asillustrated in FIG. 11B, once a first channel is selected as the LHSendpoint, the switch executive core 204 may know which switch device thefirst channel is on, so the visual representation of the first switchdevice may indicate the two known values, the first switch device nameand the LHS endpoint (represented as the filled-in rectangles). Thesecond endpoint, or the right hand side (RHS) endpoint, however, has notbeen yet configured. Thus the values for the RHS endpoint and the pathto the RHS endpoint are shown in the “unknown” or “optional” state(represented as the blank rectangles). The switch executive core 204 mayprompt the user to select the second endpoint, or the right hand sideendpoint. The next step is illustrated in FIGS. 11D-11G.

[0216]FIG. 11C

[0217]FIG. 11C illustrates another embodiment of the next user actionfollowing FIG. 11A, where the user first selects a right hand side (RHS)endpoint. As illustrated in FIG. 11C, once a first channel is selectedas the RHS endpoint, the switch executive core 204 may know which switchdevice the first channel is on, so the visual representation of thefirst switch device may indicate two known values, the first switchdevice name and the RHS endpoint (represented as the filled-inrectangles). The second endpoint, or the left hand side (LHS) endpoint,however, has not been yet configured. Thus the values for the LHSendpoint and the path from the LHS endpoint to the RHS endpoint areshown in the “unknown” or “optional” state (represented as the blankrectangles). The switch executive core 204 may prompt the user to selectthe second endpoint, or the left hand side endpoint. The next step isillustrated in FIGS. 11D-11G.

[0218]FIGS. 11D, 11E, 11F, and 11G illustrate possible embodiments ofthe next step that takes place after the steps illustrated in FIG. 11Bor 11C, that depend on the user input of the second endpoint. In thesteps illustrated in FIGS. 11D, 11E, 11F, and 11G the user may input asecond endpoint, which corresponds to the right hand side end point ifthe user first selected a left hand side endpoint as illustrated in FIG.11B, or the user may input a the left hand side endpoint if the userfirst selected a right hand side endpoint as illustrated in FIG. 11C.

[0219]FIG. 11D

[0220]FIG. 11D illustrates one embodiment of the next step that takesplace after the steps illustrated in FIG. 11B or 11C. The user mayvisually select a second endpoint on a second switch device. In the caseof FIG. 11D, the switch executive core 204 may determine that a hardwireconnection exists between the right hand side endpoint and the left handside endpoint. Thus, the first route may be complete, and the switchexecutive core 204 may display a message to the user that there is ahardwire connection associated with the first route.

[0221]FIG. 11E

[0222]FIG. 11E illustrates another embodiment of the next step thattakes place after the steps illustrated in FIG. 11B or 11C. The user mayvisually select a second endpoint on a second switch device. In the caseof FIG. 11E, the switch executive core 204 may determine that there isno hardwire connection between the endpoints, and the endpoints are notconnectable on the same switch device. However, the switch executivecore 204 may determine that there is a hardwire that can complete aroute from the first endpoint to the second endpoint. For example theremay be a hardwire connection that connects a first channel on the firstswitch device to a second channel on the second switch device, whereinthe switch executive core 204 can route the LHS endpoint to the firstchannel and can route the RHS endpoint to the second channel. Thus, theswitch executive core 204 may display a message to the user that theroute is complete, and the switch executive core 204 may give the user apossible route path string which includes the hardwire connection.

[0223]FIG. 11F

[0224]FIG. 11F illustrates another embodiment of the next step thattakes place after the steps illustrated in FIG. 11B or 11C. The user mayvisually select a second endpoint on the same switch device as the firstendpoint. Both endpoints, therefore, can be internally connected, asindicated by the visual representation of a single switch device. Theswitch executive core 204 may display a message to the user that theroute is complete, and the switch executive core 204 may give the user apossible route path string.

[0225]FIG. 11G

[0226]FIG. 11G illustrates another embodiment of the next step thattakes place after the steps illustrated in FIG. 11B or 11C. The user mayvisually select an endpoint on a second switch device. In the case ofFIG. 11G, the switch executive core 204 may determine that there is nohardwire connection between the endpoints, and the endpoints are notconnectable on the same switch device. The switch executive core 204 mayalso determine that there is no hardwire that can complete a connectionbetween the first endpoint and the second endpoint, as illustrated bythe visual representation of the switch device. Therefore no connectionmay be possible between the first endpoint and the second endpoint. Theswitch executive core 204 may display a message to the user that theroute is not complete and may prompt the user to insert a new switchdevice in the route in order to provide a means for connecting the twoendpoints.

[0227] FIGS. 11H, and 11I illustrate three possible embodiments of thenext step of that takes place after the step illustrated in FIG. 11G.Each of FIGS. 11H and 11I involve the user selecting a third switchdevice to include in the route.

[0228]FIG. 11H

[0229]FIG. 11H illustrates another embodiment of the next step thattakes place after the step illustrated in FIG. 11G. In this step theuser may visually select a third switch device to insert in the route.However, the routing algorithm does not find a satisfactory solution forhardwire connections on one of the sides. The switch executive core 204may prompt the user to insert a fourth switch device between the switchdevices that are not making a connection.

[0230]FIG. 11I

[0231]FIG. 11I illustrates another embodiment of the next step thattakes place after the step illustrated in FIG. 11G. In this step theuser may have visually selected a third switch device to insert in theroute. The routing algorithm was able to compute a possible routing pathfor a hardwire connection on both sides, between the first endpoint andthe second endpoint. The visual route editor may show one or more valuesthat connect the left and the right hand side visual representations ofthe switch devices using a hardwire. The switch executive core 204 maydisplay a message to the user that the route is complete, and the switchexecutive core 204 may give the user a possible route path string.

[0232]FIG. 12 Flowchart Diagram Illustrating an Execution of a Main UserProgram that may Use Configured Routes

[0233]FIG. 12 illustrates one embodiment of execution of an applicationprogram that uses configured routes. In step 356 the program may beexecuted (see step 356 of FIG. 7). As discussed above with respect toFIG. 9, the user may have a plurality of choices corresponding to theuse of configured routes in the switch executive system 204, includingdesign-time assisted routing, run-time auto-routing, and enteringrouting information manually. As shown in steps 480 and 482, if theprogram employs run-time autorouting, then the switch executive core 204may dynamically determine a route between the two specified endpoints.Otherwise, the routes are already configured, e.g., were configuredmanually or by design-time assisted routing.

[0234] In step 484, switch devices included in the virtual switch device105 may be configured with one or more routes during execution of theprogram.

[0235] In step 486, the main user program may utilize the routes to sendand/or receive data via the switch devices. For example, the program mayperform a measurement function using the routes. The measurementfunction may comprise connecting the instrument system 102 through theswitching system 104 to a DUT or UUT 110, e.g., in order to controland/or acquire data from the DUT or UUT 110.

[0236]FIG. 13 Flowchart Diagram Illustrating the Method for a RuntimeAuto-routing Algorithm

[0237]FIG. 13 is a flowchart diagram illustrating one embodiment of aruntime autorouting algorithm, e.g., which may be employed in step 482of FIG. 12. The runtime auto-routing algorithm may be performed duringexecution of an application program as described above. The runtimeauto-routing may use configuration channel settings, source channelsettings, dependent routes and route groups, and desired signalcharacteristics.

[0238] In step 500, the runtime auto-routing algorithm first may set oneor more of the switch devices in a simulation mode. The one or moreswitch devices may be set to simulation mode for the purpose of makingthe runtime auto-routing algorithm execute faster. In one embodiment,the one or more switch devices may be set to simulation mode such thatthe instrument driver may be executed without making actual hardwareconnections.

[0239] In Step 502, the runtime auto-routing algorithm may make severalchecks to make sure that the first endpoint and the second endpoint arevalid. These checks may comprise making sure that none of the channelsare configuration channels, since configuration channels may only beused for interconnections between channels. Next, the runtimeauto-routing algorithm may check that there is no source channelconflict. Also, both of the channels may be checked for existence, suchthat none of the channels have NULL names (invalid names for the virtualswitch device), which would indicate that the channel with the NULL namedoes not exist.

[0240] In Step 506, the runtime auto-routing algorithm may filter thechannels with desired signal characteristics. The channels may befiltered by desired signal characteristics such as voltage capacity,current capacity, and resistance. After the channels are filtered, onlythe channels meeting the desired signal characteristics will beconsidered as available channels.

[0241] In Step 508, the runtime auto-routing algorithm may search forboth of the channels in the channel list. If either one or both thefirst endpoint and the second endpoint cannot be found in the channellist, the runtime auto-routing algorithm may return an error.

[0242] In Step 510, the runtime auto-routing algorithm may have foundboth the first endpoint and the second endpoint in the channel list, andthe runtime auto-routing algorithm may examine if both of the endpointsexist on the same switch device.

[0243] In Step 512, both of the endpoints exist on the same switchdevice. The runtime auto-routing algorithm now may find a route on thesame switch device, and the runtime auto-routing algorithm may executeStep 520 next.

[0244] In one embodiment, in Step 514, the first endpoint and the secondendpoint are not on the same switch device. The runtime auto-routingalgorithm now may initialize a weight matrix, which may be used inconjunction with the Dijkstra algorithm to find the optimal and shortestpath. The weights may be analogous to the “distance” between twochannels. For example, if the path is between two channels, “r0→c0”, theweight may be 2, since only r0 and c0 are involved. If the path is“r0→c0→r1”, the weight may be 3, since 3 channels r0, c0 and r1 areinvolved. If there is no path available between two channels, the weightmay be assigned an infinite value. The runtime auto-routing algorithmmay try to find the shortest path between two endpoints. In this step,all the weights may be given infinite values since they are not yetinitialized. Other embodiments of finding the optimal and shortest pathbetween the first endpoint and the second endpoint are contemplated.

[0245] In one embodiment, in Step 516, all of the elements in the matrixmay be filled with the appropriate weight values according to the rulesmentioned above. In addition, the runtime auto-routing algorithm mayassign a special value to hardwired devices. If the channel in the rowand the channel in the column are on the same device, the runtimeauto-routing algorithm may search for the path between them and maycalculate the corresponding weight. If there is no path, the weightvalue may be left as infinite weight.

[0246] In one embodiment, in Step 518, the runtime auto-routingalgorithm may use the first endpoint as the source node and the secondendpoint as the destination node, and may compute the shortest pathbetween the first node and the second node using the Dijkstra algorithm.

[0247] In one embodiment, in step 520, the runtime auto-routingalgorithm may disconnect the dependent routes and route groups. Inaddition the switch devices may be taken out of the simulation mode intotheir original mode.

[0248] It is noted that the flowchart of FIG. 13 is exemplary only.Further, various steps in the flowchart of FIG. 13 may occurconcurrently or in different order than that shown, or may not beperformed, as desired. Also, various additional steps may be performedas desired.

[0249]FIG. 14

[0250]FIG. 14 is a flowchart diagram illustrating one embodiment of amethod for software intervention in hardware state to improve relaylifetime and reduce execution time. The method of FIG. 14 may be used inany instance where one or more switch devices are currently configuredwith a first one or more routes and it is desired to reconfigure the oneor more switch devices with a second one or more routes. This method mayuse a switch transition reduction algorithm to perform an optimizedtransition between a plurality of configured routes and/or a pluralityof route groups that may reduce or minimize the number of physicalswitching actions of switch devices based on the plurality of configuredroutes.

[0251] The user may execute a program associated with any of variousapplication development environments (ADE) 206 that may be used tointerface with the switch executive core 204, such as TestStand,LabVIEW, Measurement Studio, Visual Basic, and Visual C++, among others.One embodiment of the switch reduction algorithm is explained in detailin FIGS. 15A-15D. As used herein, the term “group of routes” refers toone or more configured routes, and may be used interchangeably with theterm “route group”. The configured route may be created across one ormore switch devices, as described above with reference to FIG. 10 andFIGS. 11A through 11I. The configured route may comprise a plurality ofchannels on one or more switch devices.

[0252] In Step 418, the switch executive core 204 may receive a firstroute group. The first route group may include one or more routes.

[0253] In Step 420, the switch executive core 204 may configure one ormore switch devices of the virtual switch device 105 according to theroutes in the first route group, i.e., may “connect” each route in thefirst route group. This may involve setting the switch devices intotheir proper state as described by routes in the first route group. Inother words, for each route of the first route group, connections may bemade within the switch devices to configure the switch devices toperform the route, e.g., so that data can travel via the channels in theroute.

[0254] In step 422 the switch executive core 204 may receive a secondroute group including one or more routes. The second route group may bereceived for a transition of the state of the switch devices. In otherwords, the transition may involve disconnecting routes of the firstroute group and connecting routes of the second route group. In otherwords, for each route of the first route group, it is desired todisconnect the connections previously made in step 420, and for eachroute in the second route group, it is desired to make connectionswithin the switch devices to connect these routes, similarly as for step420.

[0255] The first route group and the second route group may share commonroutes and/or one or more routes of the first route group may share oneor more common channel connections (i.e., a connection between twochannels) with one or more routes of the second route group. In step424, the switch executive core 204 may analyze the first route group andthe second route group in order to find these common elements and maydetermine an optimized transition to the second route group based on thecommon elements. The optimized transition may be based on reducing oreliminating redundancies. For example, disconnecting a route in thefirst route group followed by re-connecting the same route in the secondroute group is redundant. Also, if a first route in the first routegroup and a second route in the second route group share a commonconnection between two channels, it is redundant to disconnect theconnection when disconnecting the first route, followed by re-connectingthe connection when connecting the second route. In various embodiments,the method may seek to optimize the transition based on one or both ofthese levels.

[0256] In step 426, the switch executive core 204 may re-configure theone or more switch devices according to the optimized transition to thesecond route group determined in step 424. As described above, there-configuration may include performing disconnections in the one ormore switch devices for routes of the first route group. However,disconnections may not be performed for the common elements, i.e., forcommon routes and/or common channel connections. The re-configurationmay also include performing connections in the one or more switchdevices for routes of the second route group. However, performingconnections for the common elements, i.e., for common routes and/orcommon channel connections, may not be necessary since these elementsare already connected.

[0257] It is noted that the flowchart of FIG. 14 is exemplary only.Further, various steps in the flowchart of FIG. 14 may occurconcurrently or in different order than that shown, or may not beperformed, as desired. Also, various additional steps may be performedas desired.

[0258] FIGS. 15A-15D

[0259] FIGS. 15A-15D illustrate one embodiment of a method for softwareintervention in hardware state to improve relay lifetime and reduceexecution time. FIGS. 15A-15D are exemplary embodiments of a switchtransition reduction algorithm for calculating an optimized transitionbetween a plurality of configured routes and/or a plurality of routegroups that may minimize the number of physical switching actions ofswitch devices.

[0260] The switch transition reduction algorithm may use one or moredata structures comprising a list of existing routes, list of existingconnections, and a list of existing disconnections. Each connection thatis successfully completed is added to a list of existing connections.Each route that is successfully completed is added to the list ofexisting routes. The user may wish to connect a desired route list,which may comprise one or more routes, each route comprising one or moreconnections and one or more disconnections. There may be two types ofroute connections: non-reference counted and reference countedconnections. The non-reference counted connections do not allow otherroutes to share resources. The reference counted connections, alsoreferred to as route-sharing, or multiconnect, do allow other routes toshare resources. The switch transition reduction algorithm may also usea plurality of procedures described below, such as Connect, Disconnect,and ConnectAndDisconnect functions.

[0261] Preparing for Connect Function for Non Reference CountedConnections

[0262] Before performing any connections, the Connect function may firstexamine endpoints for the connections in desired route list. If theendpoints for the connections in desired route list are the same as twoendpoints of a route in the list of existing routes, or any other twoendpoints in the list of existing connections, it may be an errorcondition, since multiple connections of the same route are not allowed.If this occurs the switch executive core 204 may produce an error.

[0263] The design-time routing assistance algorithm can also check forany connections that may collide, before trying to connect anyconnections by examining the list of existing connections for eachconnection in the desired route. If there are any connections that areduplicated, the switch executive core 204 may produce an error.

[0264] Preparing for Connect (Reference Counted Connections)

[0265] Before performing any connections, the Connect function may firstexamine endpoints for the connections in the desired route list. If thetwo endpoints of any route in the endpoints for the connections indesired route list are the same as two endpoints of a route in the listof existing routes or in the list of existing connections, the desiredroute list has a potential match. If the potential match is with a routethat is marked as nonshareable, the switch executive core 204 mayproduce an error.

[0266] To discover if it is a true match, the switch executive core 204may examine if the connection paths are the same for the two matchingroutes. If the two are a true match, the routes are merged with oneanother, or the duplication is removed. If the routes have the sameendpoints but there is not a true match, the switch executive core 204may produce an error.

[0267] Performing the Connection

[0268] Once the desired route list has been prepared and verified foreither mode of operation, reference counted or non-reference countedmode, the switch executive core 204 may treat the desired route list asa reference counted connection mode. During the connection process theswitch executive core 204 may connect each route in the desired routelist by connecting its connection paths. If anything fails during aconnect operation, the switch executive core 204 may return the systemto state that it was in before the Connect function was called.

[0269] Disconnect Function

[0270] When disconnecting, the disconnect route list may be prepared inmuch the same manner as that of the connect route list. However, for theDisconnect function, it may not be important whether or not theconnection is marked as non-shareable; thus, this check may not beperformed. The Disconnect function may find a true match for everyconnection. If the Disconnect function tries to disconnect a route thatis not found in list of existing disconnections, the switch executivecore 204 may produce an error. Assuming that the connections were allmade in the reference counting modes as described above, the Disconnectfunction can always behave as though disconnecting a reference countedroute. Once the switch executive core 204 reaches the end of the list ofexisting disconnections, if there were any disconnection errors theswitch executive core 204 may produce an error.

[0271] ConnectAndDisconnect Function

[0272] When the switch executive core 204 performs a Connect functionand a Disconnect function in the same operation, the switch executivecore 204 may compare the connects and the disconnects in the desiredroute list to minimize actual hardware operation. This involves initialspecial preparation depending on the arguments to the function, followedby one pass that holds for all cases (Steps 466-468). If an item existsin both the connects and the disconnects in the desired route list, itmay be discarded from both.

[0273] If one or the other of the specifications is empty, the functionshould behave as though it is a standalone function call to eitherConnect or Disconnect functions. If the Connect and Disconnectspecification is not empty, and the same, the function shouldessentially be a no operation from the hardware perspective. TheConnectAndDisconnect function may have different modes of operationdepending on whether or not route sharing is enabled and depending onthe order of operation: break before make or break after make, alsoreferred to as disconnect-before-connect and connect-before-disconnectrespectively.

[0274]FIG. 15A

[0275]FIG. 15A illustrates one embodiment of the switch transitionreduction algorithm, where the configured routes cannot share channelsbetween each other, and where the configured route will disconnectbefore connecting. Here are assumptions:

[0276] 1. Because a disconnect will occur before a connect, the switchtransition reduction algorithm may produce an error if a connection tobe disconnected isn't in the list of existing routes.

[0277] 2. Because both the connects in the desired route list and thedisconnects in the desired route list are not shared, every connect inthe desired route list should either match a disconnect in the desiredroute list or not match anything in the list of existing routes. It maybe an error if a connect in the desired route list matches a connectionin the list of existing routes that does not also exist in thedisconnects in the desired route list.

[0278] 3. If the previous two conditions are satisfied, the switchtransition reduction algorithm may eliminate any common routes betweenthe disconnections in the desired route list and the connections in thedesired route list.

[0279] Procedure:

[0280] In one embodiment, the switch transition reduction algorithm mayprepare the disconnections in the desired route list using theDisconnect function. The switch transition reduction algorithm mayexamine the connections in the desired route against the connections inthe list of existing routes, and if a match occurs, it may be apotential error condition. If the match occurs, the switch transitionreduction algorithm may examine the disconnections in the desired routelist to count how many disconnections of this route may occur. If thenumber of disconnections does not equal the connection count on the itemin the list of existing routes, the switch transition reductionalgorithm may produce an error 450 since the route already exists.Otherwise, the switch transition reduction algorithm may store thelocation of the match in the list of existing routes to mark the firstroute as unshared.

[0281] The switch transition reduction algorithm may compare theconnections in the desired route list with itself to ensure that thereare no duplicates. If duplicates exist, the switch transition reductionalgorithm may produce an error since the first route already exists.Next, the connections in the desired route list and the disconnectionsin the desired route list may be compared to each other and anyduplicates are removed 466. The switch transition reduction algorithmmay finish the Disconnect 468 and Connect 470 functions. If in Step 448the switch transition reduction algorithm has uncovered any connectionsthat were in the list of existing routes but had balancingdisconnections, they may be marked as unshared 470.

[0282]FIG. 15B

[0283]FIG. 15B illustrates one embodiment for a switch transitionreduction algorithm, where the configured routes can share channelsbetween each other, and where the configured route will disconnect aftera connect. Here are assumptions:

[0284] 1. Because a disconnect will occur before a connect, the switchtransition reduction algorithm may produce an error if a connection tobe disconnected is not in the list of existing routes.

[0285] 2. Because the routes are being shared, the switch transitionreduction algorithm may compare the connects in the desired route listwith the list of existing routes, and merge them together appropriately.The switch transition reduction algorithm may not examine thedisconnects in the desired route list.

[0286] 3. If the previous two conditions are satisfied, the switchtransition reduction algorithm may eliminate any common routes betweenthe disconnections in the desired route list and the connections in thedesired route list.

[0287] Procedure:

[0288] In one embodiment, the switch transition reduction algorithm mayprepare the disconnections in the desired route list using theDisconnect function 442, 446, 450. The connections in the desired routelist may be prepared using the shared Connection function with oneexception. If a match is found in the list of existing routes with aroute that is marked as unshared 447, the switch transition reductionalgorithm may examine the disconnections in the desired route list tosee if there is a match before producing an error. If there is a matchwith the disconnections in the desired route list, it may be valid sincethis connection will be removed before it is reconnected. In thissituation, the switch executive core 204 may store the location of thematch in the list of existing routes to mark the route as shared.

[0289] The switch transition reduction algorithm may compare theconnections in the desired route list with itself to ensure that thereare no duplicates 466. If there are any data duplicates they may bemerged. Next, the connections in the desired route list and thedisconnections in the desired route list may be compared to each otherand any duplicates are removed 466. The switch transition reductionalgorithm may finish the Disconnect 468 and Connect 470 functions. If inStep 447 the switch executive core 204 has uncovered any connectionsthat were in the list of existing routes but had balancingdisconnections, they may be marked as shared 472.

[0290]FIG. 15C

[0291]FIG. 15C illustrates one embodiment for a switch transitionreduction algorithm, where the configured routes cannot share channelsbetween each other, and where the configured route will disconnect aftera connect. Here are assumptions:

[0292] 1. If a connect in the desired route list already exists in thelist of existing routes, it may be an error condition since sharing isnot allowed.

[0293] 2. When disconnecting, the switch transition reduction algorithmmay examine both the list of existing routes as well as a list of passedroutes before determining that a route does not exist.

[0294] 3. If the previous two conditions are satisfied, the switchtransition reduction algorithm may eliminate any common routes betweenthe disconnects in the desired route list and the connects in thedesired route list.

[0295] Procedure:

[0296] In one embodiment, the switch transition reduction algorithm mayprepare the connects in the desired route list using the Connectfunction 442, 446, 450. The switch transition reduction algorithm mayalso prepare the disconnects in the desired route list using thestandard disconnect procedure with one exception. If the route is notlocated in the list of existing routes, it may not become an errorcondition unless it is not also found in the connects in the desiredroute list. In other words, the switch transition reduction algorithmmay search both the list of existing routes and the connects in thedesired route list to find matches.

[0297] The switch transition reduction algorithm then may compare theconnects in the desired route list and the disconnects in the desiredroute list and remove any duplicates 466. The switch transitionreduction algorithm then may finish the Connect 470 and Disconnect 468functions.

[0298]FIG. 15D

[0299]FIG. 15D illustrates one embodiment for a switch transitionreduction algorithm, where the configured routes can share channelsbetween each other, and where the configured route will disconnect aftera connect. Here are assumptions.

[0300] 1. If a connect in the desired route list already exists in thelist of existing routes, it should be merged if the original connectionwas shareable (or it may be an error condition if the originalconnection was non-shareable).

[0301] 2. When disconnecting, the switch transition reduction algorithmmay examine both the list of existing routes as well as the passed routelist before determining if a route doesn't exist.

[0302] 3. If the previous two conditions are satisfied, the switchtransition reduction algorithm may eliminate any common routes betweenthe disconnects in the desired route list and the connects in thedesired route list.

[0303] Procedure:

[0304] In one embodiment, the switch transition reduction algorithm mayprepare the connects in the desired route list using the Connectfunction. The switch transition reduction algorithm may also prepare thedisconnects in the desired route list using the standard Disconnectfunction with one exception. If the route is not located in the list ofexisting routes, it may not become an error condition unless it isn'talso found in the connects in the desired route list. In other words,the switch transition reduction algorithm may search both the list ofexisting routes and the connects in the desired route list to findmatches.

[0305] The switch transition reduction algorithm then may compare theconnects in the desired route list and the disconnects in the desiredroute list and remove any duplicates 466. The switch transitionreduction algorithm then may finish the Connect 472 and Disconnect 468functions.

[0306]FIG. 16

[0307]FIG. 16 illustrates one embodiment of switch configurationsoftware—National Instruments' Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX)environment. The user may visually use a right mouse click in order tocreate a new virtual switch device 105.

[0308]FIG. 17

[0309]FIG. 17 illustrates one embodiment of a selection screen for a newvirtual switch device 105. The user may add the new virtual switchdevice 105, or select a previously created virtual switch device 105.

[0310]FIG. 18

[0311]FIG. 18 illustrates one embodiment of naming and creation modeselection of the new virtual switch device 105. The switch configurationsoftware may execute through a process of locating switches and hardwareinformation on the system and then may prompt the user with a selectionscreen for a name for the virtual switch device 105. The switchexecutive core 204 may then prompt the user for a creation of a newconfiguration for the new virtual switch device 105 or for importing aconfiguration from a file.

[0312]FIG. 19

[0313]FIG. 19 illustrates one embodiment of a selection of switchdevices for a new virtual switch device 105. The new virtual switchdevice 105 may be described as a management layer that may controlmultiple other switch devices. In this embodiment, the user has chosenselected switch devices named Matrix1 and SampleSwitch. The namespresented in the list may come from the name configuration and/or fromthe respective switch device driver 210, 212, 214 for the selectedswitch device.

[0314]FIG. 20

[0315]FIG. 20 illustrates one embodiment of creation of the new virtualswitch device 105. When the user clicks to advance to the next screen,the new virtual device 105 may be created. The switch executive core 204may open sessions to all of the switch instrument drivers 210, 212, 214associated with the virtual switch device and retrieve information suchas a list of channels of each of the selected switch devices and theirphysical characteristics which it needs to complete the virtual switchconfiguration.

[0316]FIG. 21

[0317]FIG. 21 illustrates one embodiment of a general configuration forthe new virtual switch device 105. In one embodiment, the generalconfiguration may indicate the physical devices that constitute thevirtual switch device. After creation is completed, the switch executivecore 204 may query the selected switch instrument drivers 210, 212, 214for information about the selected switch devices and channels presenton the selected switch devices. However, the switch executive core 204may not have any information about how the channels are interconnected,and how the channels should be used in configured routes.

[0318]FIG. 22

[0319]FIG. 22 illustrates one embodiment of channel configuration. Thefirst step may involve assigning names to channels. While this may be anoptional step since all channels may have default channel names, it isan important step because it allows users to map from default channelnames to names that may describe the user application better. Forexample, if an Oscilloscope is connected to a channel, a preferred nameto reference that channel may be “Oscilloscope CH0” instead of “NC0” orsome other name which may be assigned by default by the switchinstrument driver.

[0320]FIG. 22 also illustrates physical characteristics of the selectedchannel. For example, a table displaying such physical characteristicsof the channel as bandwidth, impedance, setting time, maximum voltage,carry current, switching current, carry power, and switching power isdisplayed. In one embodiment, the switch executive core may determinethese values automatically, e.g., by querying the various switchinstrument drivers for the values and may then populate the tableaccording to the values. In one embodiment, the user may be able tomanually enter the values or override the automatically determinedvalues. As described below, the user may be able to specify requiredsignal characteristics, and the switch executive core may be operable todetermine a route based on these requirements when selecting channelsfor the route.

[0321]FIG. 22 also illustrates a portion of the graphical user interfacefor assigning a mode or type to the selected channel, e.g., a normalchannel, configuration channel, or source channel.

[0322]FIG. 23

[0323]FIG. 23 illustrates one embodiment of selection of hardwireconnections. Hardwire connections, also known as interconnects, could beanything from physical wires connecting pins on a switch's front panelto chassis backplane buses. The switch executive core 204 should knowabout hardwires so that it can use them to make routing decisions. Oncea hardwire is created, multiple channels may be connected to it. Achannel should be assigned to only one hardwire. This stems from theelectrical limitation that if a single point is connected to 2 differentwires, those 2 wires end up carrying the same signal.

[0324]FIG. 24A

[0325]FIG. 24A illustrates one embodiment of a visual design-timeassisted routing editor graphical user interface (GUI). At this point,the switch executive core 204 may have enough information in order toeffectively manage the switch devices and create configured routesacross one or more switch devices. There are additional steps, however,that many users may perform. The switch executive core 204 may be ableto assist in creating configured routes at design time, and theseconfigured routes may be stored and quickly accessed later duringexecution of a user program. The GUI illustrated in FIG. 24A may enablethe user to graphically create configured routes and may provideinteractive feedback during the route configuration process, similarlyas described above.

[0326]FIG. 24B

[0327]FIG. 24B illustrates another view of the visual routing editorGUI. In this view, the “signal” tab is selected, displaying a portion ofthe graphical user interface enabling the user to specify requiredsignal characteristics for channels used in the route. Channels that donot meet the specified signal requirements may be filtered out, so thatonly valid channels are accessible, i.e., only valid channels may beselected for inclusion in the route. As one example, if the userspecifies a maximum voltage of 50 V, only those channels able to carry50 Volts may be made accessible.

[0328] The required signal characteristics may affect both automaticallyselected channels and user-selected channels. For example, if the userspecifies a portion of a route and the switch executive coreautomatically completes the route for the user, the switch executivecore may choose a route including only valid channels, according to therequired signal characteristics. Also, the user may be able to manuallyselect channels or may be able to override automatically selectedchannels. For example, the user may interact with the switch deviceicons to display a list of available channels and may choose a newchannel from this list. Thus, the list may display only valid channels.

[0329]FIG. 24C

[0330]FIG. 24C illustrates another view of the visual routing editorGUI. In this view the user may set route and/or route group dependenciesfor specific routes. A detailed explanation of resource dependencies isincluded below.

[0331]FIG. 24D

[0332]FIG. 24D illustrates another view of the visual routing editorGUI, where the user may configure routes by connecting nodes with dataflow wires.

[0333]FIG. 25

[0334]FIG. 25 illustrates an exemplary hardware topology of a system.This topology is referred to below to illustrate an example of thevisual design time assisted routing method for a plurality of switchdevices. Each box in this topology may represent a single 2×1 Form Cswitch 82, such as described above with reference to FIG. 1. The numberon the switch corresponds to the location of the Form C switch 82 on oneof the two switch devices in the switching system 104. In this example,there are two switch devices, a first switch device referred to as 1160,and a second switch device referred to as 1161, and each switch devicehas a plurality of Form C switches 82. Each line between the twoswitches represents a hardwire connection that joins the two Form Cswitches 82. The plurality of hardwires may be installed by the userprior to using visual design-time assisted routing. FIG. 25 representsone embodiment of a switching system 104 that the user will configure,as illustrated in FIGS. 26A-26E.

[0335] One embodiment of the algorithm for visual design-time assistedrouting method is described above with reference to FIG. 10, and FIGS.11A-11I. A visual representation of the switch device is used in oneembodiment as a rectangular box comprising four values, as describedwith reference to FIGS. 11A-11I.

[0336]FIG. 26A

[0337]FIG. 26A illustrates one embodiment for using a graphical userinterface, also referred to as a visual route editor, to create a routefrom a source channel, marked COM, to a destination channel, marked CHO.In this step, the user may start creating a first route by moving themouse pointer to an Add button and using the mouse click to initiate theaction in the visual route editor. The visual route editor may allow theuser to give the first route an alias name, such as Route_0. Note thateach graphical representation of a switch device may have a channelrepresenting a left hand side endpoint and a channel representing aright hand side endpoint, but there is only one source and destinationchannel per route which may involve a plurality of switch devices. Thesource channel and the destination channel may be selected out of avisual representation of a switch device that may contain all theavailable channels.

[0338]FIG. 26B

[0339]FIG. 26B illustrates one embodiment for selecting the sourcechannel, or a first endpoint. The visual route editor may allow the userto select the source channel by graphically selecting a channel. Theuser may select the left hand side endpoint as the source channel out ofthe left hand side box containing one or more available channels. Theswitch executive core 205 may know that the source channel resides onthe first switch device 1160, and a visual representation of the firstswitch device 1160 may be displayed in the visual route editor.

[0340]FIG. 26C

[0341]FIG. 26C illustrates one embodiment for selecting a destinationchannel. The visual route editor may allow the user to select thedestination channel, or a second endpoint, by graphically selecting achannel. The user may select the right hand side endpoint as thedestination channel out of the right hand side box containing one ormore available channels. The switch executive core 205 may know thatdestination channel resides on the second switch device 1161, and avisual representation of the second switch device 1161 may be displayedin the visual route editor. In this example, there are two visualrepresentations of switch devices.

[0342] The switch devices represented graphically by the visual routeeditor may show a left hand side (LHS) endpoint in each switch device, aright hand side (RHS) endpoint in each switch device, and an internalpath in each switch device between the LHS endpoint and the RHSendpoint, such as described above with reference to FIGS. 11A-11I. Atthis point the visual design-time assisted routing algorithm may beinitiated in order to find a path between the LHS endpoint in the firstswitch device and the RHS endpoint in the second switch device. In thisexample, the visual design-time assisted routing algorithm does not finda direct connection between the two devices, as represented by the emptyhardwire box between the visual representations of the switch devices.

[0343]FIG. 26D

[0344]FIG. 26D illustrates one embodiment of adding a third switchdevice into the routing path. Since the design time assisted routingalgorithm does not find a direct connection between the two devices (asrepresented by the empty hardwire box), in order to complete the routingpath the user may add new switch devices into the routing path.

[0345] The user may insert a new switch device 1161 into the path byvisually selecting the device insertion button on the hardwire selectorwith the broken wires. The visual route editor may render the new switchdevice on the display. The new switch device automatically routes itsinternal channels for proper connection with the switching device 1160on the left of the screen. The visual design-time assisted routingalgorithm may also present the user with other choices for internalchannel routes, which the user may graphically select. The hardwireconnecting the new switch device 1161 with the switch device 1160 on theleft of the screen is drawn with a solid line to graphically indicatethat the hardwire connection is valid. However, a connection between thenew switch device 1161 and the switch device on the right hand side isnot complete, as graphically indicated by a broken line on the righthand side of the screen.

[0346]FIG. 26E

[0347]FIG. 26E is one embodiment of adding a fourth switch device intothe routing path. The visual design-time assisted routing algorithm doesnot find a direct connection between the switch device on the right 1160and the new switch device 1161, as indicated by the broken line in FIG.26D, and by the empty hardwire box in the visual representation. Inorder to complete the routing path the user may add new switch devicesinto the routing path.

[0348] The user may insert a new switch device 1160 into the path byselecting the device insertion button on the hardwire selector with thebroken wires. The visual route editor renders the new switching deviceon the display. The new switching device automatically routes itsinternal channels for proper connection with the switching device 1160on the left of the screen. The design time assisted routing algorithmmay also present the user with other choices for internal channelroutes, which the user may graphically select. The hardwire connectingthe new switching device 1160 with the switching device 1161 on theright of the screen may be drawn with a solid line to indicate that thehardwire connection is valid. The visual route editor now may detectthat it has sufficient resources to complete the routing path. Thevisual route editor may render the routing path complete by drawingsolid lines as shown. The visual design-time assisted routing algorithmhas completed the routing path, as shown in the visual route editor. Atany point along the creation of the routing path the user may decide tochoose different switch devices, endpoints on a given switch device, andinternal channels on a given switch device by graphically selectingdifferent options on a graphical representation of the given switchdevice.

[0349]FIG. 27

[0350]FIG. 27 illustrates one embodiment of a GUI for visualconfiguration of route groups. Once users have created configuredroutes, some users may want to group the configured routes together sothat a plurality of configured routes can be easily connected via asingle name. In addition, configured routes that exist in the routegroup share the same resources, so the switch executive core 204 mayreserve the shared resources such that configured routes can co-exist inthe same route group.

[0351]FIG. 28—Flowchart Diagram Illustrating the Method of UsingConfigured Routes in a Graphical Program

[0352]FIG. 28 is a flowchart diagram illustrating one embodiment of amethod for creating a graphical program that uses route information tocontrol or configure one or more switch devices.

[0353] In the present application, the term “graphical program” or“block diagram” is intended to include a program comprising graphicalcode, e.g., two or more interconnected nodes or icons, wherein theinterconnected nodes or icons may visually indicate the functionality ofthe program. The nodes may be connected in one or more of a data flow,control flow, and/or execution flow format. The nodes may also beconnected in a “signal flow” format, which is a subset of data flow.Thus the terms “graphical program” or “block diagram” are each intendedto include a program comprising a plurality of interconnected nodes oricons which visually indicate the functionality of the program.

[0354] A graphical program may also comprise a user interface or frontpanel. The user interface portion may be contained in the block diagramor may be contained in one or more separate panels or windows. The userinterface of a graphical program may include various graphical userinterface elements or front panel objects, such as user interfacecontrols and/or indicators, that represent or display the respectiveinput and/or output that will be used by the graphical program or VI,and may include other icons which represent devices being controlled.The user interface or front panel may be comprised in a single window ofuser interface elements, or may comprise a plurality of individualwindows each having one or more user interface elements, wherein theindividual windows may optionally be tiled together. As another example,the user interface or front panel may comprise user interface or frontpanel objects, e.g., the GUI, embedded in the block diagram. The userinterface of a graphical program may display only output, only input, orboth input and output. Further, in some embodiments the user interfaceor front panel of a graphical program may enable the user tointeractively control or manipulate the input being provided to thegraphical program.

[0355] Examples of graphical programming development environments thatmay be used to create graphical programs include LabVIEW, DasyLab, andDiaDem from National Instruments, VEE from Agilent, WiT from Coreco,Vision Program Manager from PPT Vision, SoftWIRE from MeasurementComputing, Simulink from the MathWorks, Sanscript from NorthwoodsSoftware, Khoros from Khoral Research, SnapMaster from HEM Data, VisSimfrom Visual Solutions, ObjectBench by SES (Scientific and EngineeringSoftware), and VisiDAQ from Advantech, among others. In the preferredembodiment, the system uses the LabVIEW graphical programming systemavailable from National Instruments.

[0356] In step 80, a first node may be displayed in the graphicalprogram, wherein the first node is operable to use route information tocontrol or configure one or more of the switch devices in the switchsystem 104. For example, the graphical programming developmentenvironment may provide various nodes for inclusion in the block diagramof a graphical program. Thus, a user may display the first node in thegraphical program's block diagram, e.g., by selecting the first nodefrom a palette or menu or otherwise providing user input requestinginclusion of the first node in the graphical program. An exemplarypalette is described below with reference to FIG. 29 and FIG. 30A-FIG.30J.

[0357] In step 82, the first node may be configured with routeinformation, e.g., in response to user input. For example, in oneembodiment, step 82 may comprise connecting an input to an inputterminal of the first node, wherein the input comprises the routeinformation. In another embodiment, step 82 may comprise configuring oneor more properties of the node, e.g., using a dialog box or propertypanel. In various embodiments, the route information may comprise any ofvarious types of information. For example, the route information maycomprise information specifying one or more routes previously configuredand stored using the visual route editor, such as the names of one ormore routes or route groups. Also, the route information may compriseinformation specifying two endpoints of a route, as in the case ofrun-time auto-routing, or may comprise information explicitly specifyinga complete route, as in the case of manual routing.

[0358] The first node may be operable to perform any of various types ofoperations to control or configure the one or more switch devices. Forexample, the first node may be operable to perform a connect operationto connect specified routes, i.e., to cause the switch devices to makeconnections according to the routes. As another example, the first nodemay be operable to perform a disconnect operation to disconnectspecified routes. As another example, the first node may be operable toperform a connect/disconnect operation to disconnect a first group ofroutes and connect a second group of routes, e.g., using the optimizedconnect/disconnect algorithm described above.

[0359] In step 84, the first node may be connected to one or more othernodes in the graphical program, e.g., in a data flow and/or control flowformat.

[0360] In step 86, the graphical program may be executed.

[0361] In step 88, the first node may execute during execution of thegraphical program to control or configure the one or more switchdevices, such as described above with reference to step 82.

[0362] In another embodiment, instead of creating the graphical programin response to user input as described above, the graphical program maybe programmatically generated using programmatic generation techniquesas described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/745,023 titled“System and Method for Programmatically Generating a Graphical Programin Response to Program Information,” filed Dec. 20, 2000, which ishereby incorporated by reference as though fully and completely setforth herein.

[0363] It is noted that the flowchart of FIG. 28 is exemplary only.Further, various steps in the flowchart of FIG. 28 may occurconcurrently or in different order than that shown, or may not beperformed, as desired. Also, various additional steps may be performedas desired.

[0364]FIG. 29

[0365]FIG. 29 illustrates exemplary palettes of LabVIEW graphicalprogram nodes for configuring and using a virtual switch device 105,according to one embodiment of the invention. The graphical programnodes may be utilized by the user in a graphical program in order to useconfigured routes. A plurality of graphical program nodes forconfiguring and using a virtual switch device are described below withreference to FIGS. 30A-30J.

[0366]FIG. 30A

[0367]FIG. 30A illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to close a session. This graphical program nodemay reduce the reference count of open sessions by one. If the referencecount goes to 0, the graphical program node may deallocate any memoryresources the switch device driver 210, 212, 214 uses and close any opensessions.

[0368] NISE Session (in) is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession.

[0369] error in describes error conditions that occur before this VI orfunction runs. The default is no error. If an error occurred before thisVI or function runs, the VI or function passes the error in value toerror out. This VI or function runs normally only if no error occursbefore this VI or function runs. If an error occurs while this VI orfunction runs, it runs normally and sets its own error status in errorout. Use the Simple Error Handler or General Error Handler VIs todisplay the description of the error code. Use error in and error out tocheck errors and to specify execution order by wiring error out from onenode to error in of the next node.

[0370] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred before this VI ran orFALSE (checkmark) to indicate a warning or that no error occurred beforethis VI ran. The default is FALSE.

[0371] code is the error or warning code. The default is 0. If status isTRUE, code is a non-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or awarning code.

[0372] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning. The default is an empty string.

[0373] error out contains error information. If error in indicates thatan error occurred before this VI or function ran, error out contains thesame error information. Otherwise, it describes the error status thatthis VI or function produces. Right-click the error out indicator on thefront panel and select Explain Error from the shortcut menu for moreinformation about the error.

[0374] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred or FALSE (checkmark) toindicate a warning or that no error occurred.

[0375] code is the error or warning code. If status is TRUE, code is anon-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or a warning code.

[0376] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning.

[0377] Return Value

[0378] Returns the status of the VI.

[0379] CloseSession Details

[0380] After calling the niSE_CloseSession VI, you should not use theSwitch Executive virtual device again until you call niSE_OpenSession.

[0381]FIG. 30B

[0382]FIG. 30B illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to connect the routes specified by the connectionspecification. This graphical program node may allow for multiconnectionbased on the multiconnection mode.

[0383] NISE Session (in) is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession.

[0384] Connection Specification is the string describing the connectionsto be made. The route specification strings are best summarized as aseries of routes delimited by ampersands. The specified routes may beroute names, route group names, or fully specified route paths delimitedby square brackets.

[0385] error in describes error conditions that occur before this VI orfunction runs. The default is no error. If an error occurred before thisVI or function runs, the VI or function passes the error in value toerror out. This VI or function runs normally only if no error occursbefore this VI or function runs. If an error occurs while this VI orfunction runs, it runs normally and sets its own error status in errorout. Use the Simple Error Handler or General Error Handler VIs todisplay the description of the error code. Use error in and error out tocheck errors and to specify execution order by wiring error out from onenode to error in of the next node.

[0386] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred before this VI ran orFALSE (checkmark) to indicate a warning or that no error occurred beforethis VI ran. The default is FALSE.

[0387] code is the error or warning code. The default is 0. If status isTRUE, code is a non-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or awarning code.

[0388] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning. The default is an empty string.

[0389] NISE Session (out) is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession. This session handle is the copy of the sessionhandle that was passed in and provides for easier wiring between SwitchExecutive VIs.

[0390] error out contains error information. If error in indicates thatan error occurred before this VI or function ran, error out contains thesame error information. Otherwise, it describes the error status thatthis VI or function produces. Right-click the error out indicator on thefront panel and select Explain Error from the shortcut menu for moreinformation about the error.

[0391] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred or FALSE (checkmark) toindicate a warning or that no error occurred.

[0392] code is the error or warning code. If status is TRUE, code is anon-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or a warning code.

[0393] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning.

[0394] Return Value

[0395] Returns the status of the VI.

[0396] Connect Details In the event of an error, the call toniSE_Connect may attempt to undo any connections made so that the systemwill be left in the same state that it was in before the call was made.Some errors can be caught before manipulating hardware, although it isfeasible that a hardware call could fail causing some connections to bemomentarily closed and then reopened.

[0397]FIG. 30C

[0398]FIG. 30C illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to connect routes and disconnect routes. Thisgraphical program node may connect routes and disconnect routes in asimilar fashion to niSE_Connect and niSE_Disconnect, except that theoperation may happen in the context of a single function call. Thisfunction may be useful for switching from one state to another state.

[0399] NISE Session (in) is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession.

[0400] Connection Specification is the string describing the connectionsto be made. The route specification strings are best summarized as aseries of routes delimited by ampersands. The specified routes may beroute names, route group names, or fully specified route paths delimitedby square brackets.

[0401] Disconnection Specification is the string describing thedisconnections to be made. The route specification strings are bestsummarized as a series of routes delimited by ampersands. The specifiedroutes may be route names, route group names, or fully specified routepaths delimited by square brackets. See route specification strings formore information.

[0402] Operation Order sets the order of the operation for the function.Defined values are Break Before Make and Break After Make.

[0403] Wait for Debounce Between Operations will wait (if true) forswitches to debounce between its connect and disconnect operations. Iffalse, it will immediately begin the second operation after completingthe first. The order of connect and disconnect operation is set by theOperation Order input.

[0404] error in describes error conditions that occur before this VI orfunction runs. The default is no error. If an error occurred before thisVI or function runs, the VI or function passes the error in value toerror out. This VI or function runs normally only if no error occursbefore this VI or function runs. If an error occurs while this VI orfunction runs, it runs normally and sets its own error status in errorout. Use the Simple Error Handler or General Error Handler VIs todisplay the description of the error code. Use error in and error out tocheck errors and to specify execution order by wiring error out from onenode to error in of the next node.

[0405] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred before this VI ran orFALSE (checkmark) to indicate a warning or that no error occurred beforethis VI ran. The default is FALSE.

[0406] code is the error or warning code. The default is 0. If status isTRUE, code is a non-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or awarning code.

[0407] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning. The default is an empty string.

[0408] NISE Session (out) is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession. This session handle is the copy of the sessionhandle that was passed in and provides for easier wiring between SwitchExecutive VIs.

[0409] error out contains error information. If error in indicates thatan error occurred before this VI or function ran, error out contains thesame error information. Otherwise, it describes the error status thatthis VI or function produces. Right-click the error out indicator on thefront panel and select Explain Error from the shortcut menu for moreinformation about the error.

[0410] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred or FALSE (checkmark) toindicate a warning or that no error occurred.

[0411] code is the error or warning code. If status is TRUE, code is anon-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or a warning code.

[0412] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning.

[0413] Return Value

[0414] Returns the status of the VI.

[0415] ConnectAndDisconnect Details

[0416] niSE_ConnectAndDisconnect may only touch the hardware to handlethe connections and disconnections that are different between theconnection specification and disconnection specification. If any routesare common between the two, they may be handled in software. This hasthe distinct advantage of increased throughput for shared connectionssince hardware does not has to be involved as well as an opportunity toincrease relay lifetime by potentially decreasing the number of timesthat the relay has to be switched.

[0417] Break Before Make

[0418] The function may disconnect the routes specified in thedisconnect specification before connecting the routes specified in theconnect specification. This may be the typical mode of operation.

[0419] Break After Make

[0420] The function may connect the routes specified in the connectionspecification before connecting the routes specified in thedisconnection specification. This mode of operation may be normally usedwhen switching current and in order to ensure that a load is alwaysconnected to a source. The order of operation may be to connect first ordisconnect first.

[0421] The order might be one of the following:

[0422] NISE_VAL_BREAK_BEFORE_MAKE=1

[0423] NISE_VAL_MAKE_BEFORE_BREAK=2

[0424]FIG. 30D

[0425]FIG. 30D illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to disconnect specified routes. This graphicalprogram node may disconnect routes specified in the DisconnectionSpecification.

[0426] NISE Session (in) is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession.

[0427] Disconnection Specification is the string describing thedisconnections to be made. The route specification strings are bestsummarized as a series of routes delimited by ampersands. The specifiedroutes may be route names, route group names, or fully specified routepaths delimited by square brackets.

[0428] error in describes error conditions that occur before this VI orfunction runs. The default is no error. If an error occurred before thisVI or function runs, the VI or function passes the error in value toerror out. This VI or function runs normally only if no error occursbefore this VI or function runs. If an error occurs while this VI orfunction runs, it runs normally and sets its own error status in errorout. Use the Simple Error Handler or General Error Handler VIs todisplay the description of the error code. Use error in and error out tocheck errors and to specify execution order by wiring error out from onenode to error in of the next node.

[0429] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred before this VI ran orFALSE (checkmark) to indicate a warning or that no error occurred beforethis VI ran. The default is FALSE.

[0430] code is the error or warning code. The default is 0. If status isTRUE, code is a non-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or awarning code.

[0431] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning. The default is an empty string.

[0432] NISE Session (out) is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession. This session handle is the copy of the sessionhandle that was passed in and provides for easier wiring between SwitchExecutive VIs.

[0433] error out contains error information. If error in indicates thatan error occurred before this VI or function ran, error out contains thesame error information. Otherwise, it describes the error status thatthis VI or function produces. Right-click the error out indicator on thefront panel and select Explain Error from the shortcut menu for moreinformation about the error.

[0434] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred or FALSE (checkmark) toindicate a warning or that no error occurred.

[0435] code is the error or warning code. If status is TRUE, code is anon-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or a warning code.

[0436] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning.

[0437] Return Value

[0438] Returns the status of the VI.

[0439] Disconnect Details

[0440] If any of the specified routes were originally connected in amulticonnected mode, the call to niSE_Disconnect may reduce thereference count on the route by 1. If the reference count reaches 0, itmay be disconnected. If a specified route does not exist, it may be anerror condition. In the event of an error, the call to niSE_Disconnectmay continue to try to disconnect everything specified by the routespecification string but will report the error on completion.

[0441]FIG. 30E

[0442]FIG. 30E illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to disconnect all routes. This graphical programnode may disconnect all connections on every switch device managed bythe Switch Executive session reference passed to this function.

[0443] NISE Session (in) is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession.

[0444] Disconnection Specification is the string describing thedisconnections to be made. The route specification strings are bestsummarized as a series of routes delimited by ampersands. The specifiedroutes may be route names, route group names, or fully specified routepaths delimited by square brackets.

[0445] error in describes error conditions that occur before this VI orfunction runs. The default is no error. If an error occurred before thisVI or function runs, the VI or function passes the error in value toerror out. This VI or function runs normally only if no error occursbefore this VI or function runs. If an error occurs while this VI orfunction runs, it runs normally and sets its own error status in errorout. Use the Simple Error Handler or General Error Handler VIs todisplay the description of the error code. Use error in and error out tocheck errors and to specify execution order by wiring error out from onenode to error in of the next node.

[0446] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred before this VI ran orFALSE (checkmark) to indicate a warning or that no error occurred beforethis VI ran. The default is FALSE.

[0447] code is the error or warning code. The default is 0. If status isTRUE, code is a non-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or awarning code.

[0448] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning. The default is an empty string.

[0449] NISE Session (out) is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession. This session handle is the copy of the sessionhandle that was passed in and provides for easier wiring between SwitchExecutive VIs.

[0450] error out contains error information. If error in indicates thatan error occurred before this VI or function ran, error out contains thesame error information. Otherwise, it describes the error status thatthis VI or function produces. Right-click the error out indicator on thefront panel and select Explain Error from the shortcut menu for moreinformation about the error.

[0451] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred or FALSE (checkmark) toindicate a warning or that no error occurred.

[0452] code is the error or warning code. If status is TRUE, code is anon-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or a warning code.

[0453] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning.

[0454] Return Value

[0455] Returns the status of the VI.

[0456] Disconnect Details

[0457] niSE_DisconnectAll may ignore all multiconnect modes. CallingniSE_DisconnectAll may reset all of the switch states for the system.

[0458]FIG. 30F

[0459]FIG. 30F illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to find a route between user specified channels.This graphical program node may find an existing or potential routebetween user specified channels 1 and 2.

[0460] NISE Session (in) is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession.

[0461] Channel 1 is the channel name of one of the endpoints of theroute to find. The channel name must either be a channel alias name or aname in the device!ivichannel syntax.

[0462] Channel 2 is the channel name of one of the endpoints of theroute to find. The channel name must either be a channel alias name or aname in the device!ivichannel syntax.

[0463] error in describes error conditions that occur before this VI orfunction runs. The default is no error. If an error occurred before thisVI or function runs, the VI or function passes the error in value toerror out. This VI or function runs normally only if no error occursbefore this VI or function runs. If an error occurs while this VI orfunction runs, it runs normally and sets its own error status in errorout. Use the Simple Error Handler or General Error Handler VIs todisplay the description of the error code. Use error in and error out tocheck errors and to specify execution order by wiring error out from onenode to error in of the next node.

[0464] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred before this VI ran orFALSE (checkmark) to indicate a warning or that no error occurred beforethis VI ran. The default is FALSE.

[0465] code is the error or warning code. The default is 0. If status isTRUE, code is a non-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or awarning code.

[0466] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning. The default is an empty string.

[0467] NISE Session (out) is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession. This session handle is the copy of the sessionhandle that was passed in and provides for easier wiring between SwitchExecutive VIs.

[0468] Route Specification contains the fully specified route pathcomplete with delimiting square brackets—it the route exists or ispossible.

[0469] Path Capability is the return value which expresses thecapability of finding a valid route between Channel 1 and Channel 2.Refer to the table below for value descriptions.

[0470] error out contains error information. If error in indicates thatan error occurred before this VI or function ran, error out contains thesame error information. Otherwise, it describes the error status thatthis VI or function produces. Right-click the error out indicator on thefront panel and select Explain Error from the shortcut menu for moreinformation about the error.

[0471] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred or FALSE (checkmark) toindicate a warning or that no error occurred.

[0472] code is the error or warning code. If status is TRUE, code is anon-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or a warning code.

[0473] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning.

[0474] Return Value

[0475] Returns the status of the VI.

[0476] FindRoute Details

[0477] The returned route specification may contain the routespecification and the route capability may determine whether or not theroute existed, whether or not the route is possible. The routespecification string returned from niSE_FindRoute can be passed to otherSwitch Executive API functions (such as niSE_Connect, niSE_Disconnect,and niSE_ConnectAndDisconnect) that use route specification strings.

[0478] Path Capability

[0479] Path capability might be any one of the following:

[0480] Value Name Description

[0481]1 Path Available A path between channel 1 and channel 2 isavailable. The route specification parameter will return a stringdescribing the available path.

[0482]2 Path Exists A path between channel 1 and channel 2 alreadyexists. The route specification parameter will return a stringdescribing the existing path.

[0483]3 Path Unsupported There is no potential path between channel 1and channel 2 given the current configuration.

[0484]4 Resource In Use There is a potential path between channel 1 andchannel 2, although a resource needed to complete the path is already inuse.

[0485]5 Source Conflict Channel 1 and channel 2 cannot be connectedbecause they are both source channels.

[0486]6 Channel Not Available One of the channels is not useable as anendpoint channel. Make sure that it is not marked as a configurationchannel.

[0487]7 Channels Hardwired A direct connection already exists betweenchannel 1 and channel 2 via a hardwire.

[0488]FIG. 30G

[0489]FIG. 30G illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to retrieve switch device session for a switchdevice. This graphical program node may retrieve a switch driver sessionfor a switch device that is being managed by the Switch Executive. Theretrieved session handle can be used to access instrument specificfunctionality through the switch device driver 210, 212, 214.

[0490] NISE Session (in) is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession.

[0491] IVI Logical Name is the IVI logical name of the IVI device toretrieve an IVI session for. error in describes error conditions thatoccur before this VI or function runs. The default is no error. If anerror occurred before this VI or function runs, the VI or functionpasses the error in value to error out. This VI or function runsnormally only if no error occurs before this VI or function runs. If anerror occurs while this VI or function runs, it runs normally and setsits own error status in error out. Use the Simple Error Handler orGeneral Error Handler Vis to display the description of the error code.Use error in and error out to check errors and to specify executionorder by wiring error out from one node to error in of the next node.

[0492] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred before this VI ran orFALSE (checkmark) to indicate a warning or that no error occurred beforethis VI ran. The default is FALSE.

[0493] code is the error or warning code. The default is 0. If status isTRUE, code is a non-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or awarning code.

[0494] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning. The default is an empty string.

[0495] NISE Session (out) is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession. This session handle is the copy of the sessionhandle that was passed in and provides for easier wiring between SwitchExecutive VIs.

[0496] instrument handle out is the IVI instrument handle of thespecified IVI device. error out contains error information. If error inindicates that an error occurred before this VI or function ran, errorout contains the same error information. Otherwise, it describes theerror status that this VI or function produces. Right-click the errorout indicator on the front panel and select Explain Error from theshortcut menu for more information about the error.

[0497] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred or FALSE (checkmark) toindicate a warning or that no error occurred.

[0498] code is the error or warning code. If status is TRUE, code is anon-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or a warning code.

[0499] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning.

[0500] Return Value

[0501] Returns the status of the VI.

[0502] GetIviDeviceSession Details

[0503] Note Use caution when using the session handle. Calling functionson an instrument driver can invalidate Switch Executive's configurationand cache. The retrieve session handle should not be used to make orbreak connections or change the configuration channels as this maylikely cause undefined, and potentially unwanted, behavior.

[0504]FIG. 30H

[0505]FIG. 30H illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to check if a switching system 104 is debouncedor not. This graphical program node may not wait for debouncing tooccur. It may return true if the system is fully debounced.

[0506] NISE Session (in) is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession.

[0507] error in describes error conditions that occur before this VI orfunction runs. The default is no error. If an error occurred before thisVI or function runs, the VI or function passes the error in value toerror out. This VI or function runs normally only if no error occursbefore this VI or function runs. If an error occurs while this VI orfunction runs, it runs normally and sets its own error status in errorout. Use the Simple Error Handler or General Error Handler VIs todisplay the description of the error code. Use error in and error out tocheck errors and to specify execution order by wiring error out from onenode to error in of the next node.

[0508] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred before this VI ran orFALSE (checkmark) to indicate a warning or that no error occurred beforethis VI ran. The default is FALSE.

[0509] code is the error or warning code. The default is 0. If status isTRUE, code is a non-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or awarning code.

[0510] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning. The default is an empty string.

[0511] NISE Session (out) is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession. This session handle is the copy of the sessionhandle that was passed in and provides for easier wiring between SwitchExecutive VIs.

[0512] Is Debounced? returns TRUE if the system is fully debounced orFALSE if it is still settling.

[0513] error out contains error information. If error in indicates thatan error occurred before this VI or function ran, error out contains thesame error information. Otherwise, it describes the error status thatthis VI or function produces. Right-click the error out indicator on thefront panel and select Explain Error from the shortcut menu for moreinformation about the error.

[0514] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred or FALSE (checkmark) toindicate a warning or that no error occurred.

[0515] code is the error or warning code. If status is TRUE, code is anon-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or a warning code.

[0516] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning.

[0517] Return Value

[0518] Returns the status of the VI.

[0519] IsDebounced Details

[0520] This VI is similar to the IviSwtch specific function.

[0521]FIG. 30I

[0522]FIG. 30I illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to open a session to a specified switch virtualdevice 105. This graphical program node may open communication with allof the switch devices associated with the specified switch virtualdevice 105. This graphical program node may set configuration and sourcechannels on each switch device as specified by the switch configuration.This graphical program node may return a session handle that may be usedto identify the virtual switch device 105 in all subsequent graphicalprogram calls.

[0523] Virtual Device Name is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession. This session handle is the copy of the sessionhandle that was passed in and provides for easier wiring between SwitchExecutive VIs.

[0524] error in describes error conditions that occur before this VI orfunction runs. The default is no error. If an error occurred before thisVI or function runs, the VI or function passes the error in value toerror out. This VI or function runs normally only if no error occursbefore this VI or function runs. If an error occurs while this VI orfunction runs, it runs normally and sets its own error status in errorout. Use the Simple Error Handler or General Error Handler VIs todisplay the description of the error code. Use error in and error out tocheck errors and to specify execution order by wiring error out from onenode to error in of the next node.

[0525] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred before this VI ran orFALSE (checkmark) to indicate a warning or that no error occurred beforethis VI ran. The default is FALSE.

[0526] code is the error or warning code. The default is 0. If status isTRUE, code is a non-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or awarning code.

[0527] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning. The default is an empty string.

[0528] NISE Session (out) is the session referencing this switch virtualdevice 105 session. Session handles are created through a call toniSE_OpenSession. This session handle is the copy of the session handlethat was passed in and provides for easier wiring between SwitchExecutive VIs.

[0529] error out contains error information. If error in indicates thatan error occurred before this VI or function ran, error out contains thesame error information. Otherwise, it describes the error status thatthis VI or function produces. Right-click the error out indicator on thefront panel and select Explain Error from the shortcut menu for moreinformation about the error.

[0530] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred or FALSE (checkmark) toindicate a warning or that no error occurred.

[0531] code is the error or warning code. If status is TRUE, code is anon-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or a warning code.

[0532] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning.

[0533] Return Value

[0534] Returns the status of the VI.

[0535] OpenSession Details

[0536] Switch Executive may use a reference counting scheme to manageopen session handles to a switch virtual device 105. Each call toniSE_OpenSession may be matched with a subsequent call toniSE_CloseSession. Successive calls to niSE_OpenSession with the samevirtual device name may return the same session handle. Only after allsession handles are closed to a given virtual device, the SwitchExecutive may disconnect its communication with the IVI switches. Thesession handles may be used safely in multiple threads of anapplication.

[0537]FIG. 30J

[0538]FIG. 30J illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary LabVIEWgraphical program node to wait for all of the switch devices in theswitch virtual device 105 to debounce.

[0539] NISE Session (in) is the session referencing this SwitchExecutive virtual device session. Session handles are created through acall to niSE_OpenSession.

[0540] Maximum Time (−1=infinite) is the amount of time to wait (inmilliseconds) for the debounce to complete. A value of 0 will check fordebouncing once and will return an error if the system is not debouncedat that time. A value of −1 means to block for an infinite period oftime until the system is debounced.

[0541] error in describes error conditions that occur before this VI orfunction runs. The default is no error. If an error occurred before thisVI or function runs, the VI or function passes the error in value toerror out. This VI or function runs normally only if no error occursbefore this VI or function runs. If an error occurs while this VI orfunction runs, it runs normally and sets its own error status in errorout. Use the Simple Error Handler or General Error Handler VIs todisplay the description of the error code. Use error in and

[0542] error out to check errors and to specify execution order bywiring error out from one node to error in of the next node.

[0543] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred before this VI ran orFALSE (checkmark) to indicate a warning or that no error occurred beforethis VI ran. The default is FALSE.

[0544] code is the error or warning code. The default is 0. If status isTRUE, code is a non-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or awarning code.

[0545] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning. The default is an empty string.

[0546] NISE Session (out) is the session referencing this switch virtualdevice 105 session. Session handles are created through a call toniSE_OpenSession. This session handle is the copy of the session handlethat was passed in and provides for easier wiring between SwitchExecutive VIs.

[0547] error out contains error information. If error in indicates thatan error occurred before this VI or function ran, error out contains thesame error information. Otherwise, it describes the error status thatthis VI or function produces. Right-click the error out indicator on thefront panel and select Explain Error from the shortcut menu for moreinformation about the error.

[0548] status is TRUE (X) if an error occurred or FALSE (checkmark) toindicate a warning or that no error occurred.

[0549] code is the error or warning code. If status is TRUE, code is anon-zero error code. If status is FALSE, code is 0 or a warning code.

[0550] source describes the origin of the error or warning and is, inmost cases, the name of the VI or function that produced the error orwarning.

[0551] Return Value

[0552] Returns the status of the VI.

[0553] WaitForDebounce Details

[0554] This VI may not return until either the switching system 104 iscompletely debounced and settled or the maximum time has elapsed and thesystem is not yet debounced. In the event that the maximum time elapses,the function may return an error indicating that a timeout has occurred.It is recommended that niSE_WaitForDebounce be called after a series ofconnection or disconnection operations before taking any measurements ofthe signals connected to the switching system 104. This is to ensurethat all of the switching has settled.

[0555] FIGS. 31 (Prior Art) Graphical Program Using a Configured Route

[0556]FIG. 31 illustrates one example of a prior art graphical programfor controlling a plurality of switch devices. In this example of aprior art graphical program, there is a switching system 104 comprisinga plurality of switch devices, which are not organized into a virtualswitch device 105. Thus, the user has to keep track of all the switchdevices that are a part of the route, including all internal connectionsand hardwires.

[0557] FIGS. 32-35—Examples of Graphical Program which Use ConfiguredRoutes

[0558]FIG. 32 illustrates a graphical program for controlling aplurality of switch devices using configured routes, according to oneembodiment of the invention. Note the improvement over the prior artgraphical program. In this figure, the switching system 104 comprisingthe plurality of switch devices may be represented by a virtual switchdevice 105. The graphic program of FIG. 32 includes four nodes, thesebeing an Open node, Find Node, Connect Node, and Close node. The Opennode operates to open the virtual switch device 105. The Find nodeoperates to find a path between two endpoints, which are “DMM” and“UUT1” in this example. The Connect node operates to connect the pathbetween the two endpoints as specified by the Find node. The Close nodeoperates to close the connection with the virtual switch device 105.

[0559] In one embodiment, the function of the Open and Close nodes maybe combined with the function of the Find and Connect nodesrespectively, resulting in a graphical program with only two nodes. Inanother embodiment, the function of the Open node may be combined withthe function of the Find and Connect Nodes, resulting in a graphicalprogram with only two nodes.

[0560]FIG. 33 illustrates an exemplary LabVIEW graphical program thatuses one embodiment of a graphical program node for controlling aplurality of switch devices. The graphical program uses graphicalprogram nodes for controlling the plurality of switch devices withmanually entered configured routes.

[0561]FIG. 34 illustrates a graphical program that uses softwareintervention in hardware state changes to improve relay lifetime andreduction in execution time, according to one embodiment of theinvention.

[0562]FIG. 35 illustrates another graphical program for controlling aplurality of switch devices using configured routes, according toanother embodiment of the invention. This graphical program comprisesthe use of a virtual switch device 105 and the use of measurement andautomation functions for controlling and/or acquiring data from a UT110.

[0563]FIG. 36—Flowchart of a Method for a Configuration of a VirtualSwitch Device

[0564]FIG. 36 is a flowchart of a method for a configuration of avirtual switch device 105. This flowchart illustrates an embodiment of ahigh-level approach to user and computer system 101 interaction.

[0565] In step 540, switch devices may be added by the user, asdescribed with reference to FIG. 7. The method which the user chooses toenter the devices, automatic from a configuration file or manuallyaddition via a configuration utility has the same effect.

[0566] In step 542, the switch executive core 204 may configure switchdevices from corresponding switch driver software 210, 212, 214 that maybe queried for switch device specific information.

[0567] In step 546, the user may start entering individual switchconfiguration information, including route dependencies, hardwires, anddesired signal characteristics.

[0568] In step 548, the switch executive core 204 may create an internalmapping of the topology depending on the driver software. Note that anexplicit topology may not be created. The switch executive core 204 maycreate a dynamic mapping of the connections based on querying the switchinstrument drivers 210, 212, 214 and by the distribution of configuredroutes. This way the addition and/or modification of the switch deviceand/or configured routes may be optimized for performance.

[0569] Signal Requirements and Resource Dependencies

[0570] In one embodiment, the switch executive core 204 may enable auser to specify required signal characteristics for a route, and may aidthe user in creating a route having elements, e.g., channels, withphysical characteristics that match the required signal characteristics.

[0571] The switch executive core 204 or visual route editor may displaya graphical user interface for receiving the one or more required signalcharacteristics for the route. The user may interact with the graphicaluser interface to specify the required signal characteristics. Forexample, in one embodiment, the graphical user interface may display atable for entering values for the required signal characteristics, andthe user may enter one or more values in the table. For example, FIG.24B illustrates a table for entering values such as signal bandwidth,impedance, setting time, maximum voltage, carry current, switchingcurrent, carry power, and switching power. In another embodiment thegraphical user interface may enable the user to select various desiredsignal characteristics, e.g., by checking one or more checkboxes forrequired characteristics. In another embodiment, the one or morerequired signal characteristics may be provided from a configurationfile or other sources. The signal characteristics may additionallyinclude wire mode, carry current, switching voltage (AC, DC). besidesothers.

[0572] The required signal characteristics may then be used whenselecting or determining channels to include the route. The requiredsignal characteristics may affect both automatically selected ordetermined channels and user-selected channels. For example, if the userspecifies a portion of a route and the switch executive coreautomatically completes the route for the user, the switch executivecore may choose a route including only valid channels, according to therequired signal characteristics. Also, the user may be able to manuallyselect channels or may be able to override automatically selectedchannels. For example, the user may interact with the switch deviceicons to display a list of available channels and may choose a newchannel from this list. Thus, the list may display only valid channels.

[0573] In one embodiment of the visual route editor, when creating aroute the user may first specify a first endpoint of the route. Forexample, the user may first specify a left hand side endpoint of theroute, such as by interacting with the listbox input element shown inFIG. 24C that includes channel names such as “2501_Matrux!r1”,“2501_Matrux!r2”, “2501_Matrux!r3”, etc. The input element may display aselectable list of channels to select for the first endpoint. The listof switch devices may be filtered so that only valid switch devices aredisplayed, e.g., those switch devices having channels with physicalcharacteristics that match the required signal characteristics. As oneexample, if the user specified that a bandwidth of 20 kHz is a requiredsignal characteristic, then only those switch devices having channelswith a bandwidth of 20 kHz or more may be displayed in the list. Inresponse to the user selecting a first channel, residing in the firstswitch device, from the list of channels, the first endpoint of theroute may be configured to be located on the first switch device.

[0574] Continuing with the example of FIG. 24C, the user may interactwith the listbox input element on the right side of the screen tospecify a right hand side endpoint of the route. Similarly as describedabove, this listbox input element may only display valid switch deviceshaving channels with physical characteristics that match the requiredsignal characteristics.

[0575] Configuring each endpoint may further comprise configuring theendpoint to be located on a particular channel of the respective switchdevice. In one embodiment, this channel may be automatically determinedby the switch executive core. Thus, in determining the channel theswitch executive core may determine channels of the respective switchdevice that have physical characteristics that match the required signalcharacteristics and may automatically configure the endpoint to belocated on one of the determined channels.

[0576] For example, as described above, an icon representing therespective switch device may be displayed, wherein the icon displays thedetermined channel. For example, for the left hand side endpoint of theroute, this channel may be the left hand side endpoint within the switchdevice. The user may change the automatically determined channel ifdesired, or in another embodiment the channel may not be automaticallydetermined, and the user may need to initially set it. In these cases,the user may interact with the icon representing the switch device tochange or set the channel. The icon may limit the user's choices tovalid channels only. For example, the icon may include a selectable listof channels for specifying the channel, wherein the list of channelscomprises channels having physical characteristics that match therequired signal characteristics.

[0577] As described above, after the user has specified at least aportion of the route, the switch executive core may aid the user inautomatically completing the route. The route may be automaticallycompleted based on the required signal characteristics. For example,automatically completing the route may comprise automaticallydetermining one or more channels on one or more switch devices thatcomplete the route, wherein the automatically determined one or morechannels on the one or more switch devices have physical characteristicsmatching the required signal characteristics.

[0578] To determine physical characteristics of the switch devicesand/or channels within the switch devices, the switch executive core 204may query the switch instrument drivers 210, 212, 214 for informationconcerning physical characteristics of the switch devices or of channelson the switch devices. In various embodiments, the drivers may beoperable to provide information regarding any of various types ofphysical characteristics, e.g., those corresponding to the exemplarylist of signal requirements given above (signal bandwidth, impedance,setting time, maximum voltage, carry current, switching current, carrypower, switching power, etc.). Switch device manufacturers may createthe switch instrument drivers 210, 212, 214 with information presentdescribing how channels function, e.g., physical and electricalproperties of each channel on the switch device.

[0579] In another embodiment, the switch executive core 204 may allowassociating a first route with a first route group, wherein a routegroup comprises a plurality of routes. Switch executive core 204 mayensure that the first route can coexist with all of the other routes inthe first route group. If a route is a member of a first route group,its dependencies are the other members of the first route group. A routecan be a member of multiple groups, in which case it is dependent on allof routes in all of the route groups that it is a member. By statingthat a route needs to coexist with another route, there may be resourceexclusions for the resources implied by said another route.

[0580] In other embodiments, a plurality of other desired resourcedependencies may be used to define configured routes, comprisingspecifying that a first channel should never be connected to a secondchannel, and specifying particular resources, hardwires, channels,individual switch relays, and paths to definitely exclude or definitelyinclude in the configured route. In other embodiments, routing may bebased not only on resource and desired signal characteristics, but alsoby a consideration of physical path proximities to minimize cross-talkand other high frequency effects.

[0581] Although the embodiments above have been described inconsiderable detail, numerous variations and modifications will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fullyappreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted toembrace all such variations and modifications.

We claim:
 1. A computer-implemented method for graphically defining aroute through one or more switch devices, the method comprising:displaying a graphical user interface for defining the route; receivinguser input to the graphical user interface specifying a first endpointof the route, wherein the first endpoint comprises a channel of a firstswitch device; displaying a first icon representing the first switchdevice in response to the user input specifying the first endpoint;receiving user input to the graphical user interface specifying a secondendpoint of the route, wherein the second endpoint comprises a channelof a second switch device; and displaying a second icon representing thesecond switch device in response to the user input specifying the secondendpoint; wherein the first icon and the second icon visually indicatethat the route passes from the first channel of the first switch deviceto the second channel of the second switch device.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: displaying a wire connecting the first iconand the second icon; wherein the wire visually indicates that the routepasses through the first switch device and the second switch device. 3.The method of claim 2, further comprising: displaying a third iconbetween the first icon and the second icon, wherein the third iconrepresents one of: a third switch device and a hardwire connection;wherein said displaying a wire connecting the first icon and the secondicon comprises: displaying a first wire connecting the first icon to thethird icon; and displaying a second wire connecting the third icon tothe second icon; wherein the first and second wires visually indicatethat the route passes through: the first switch device; the third switchdevice or hardwire connection represented by the third icon; and thesecond switch device.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:automatically determining one or more additional elements that completethe route from the first endpoint to the second endpoint; and displayingicons representing the one or more additional elements to indicate thecompleted route.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or moreadditional elements that complete the route include one or more of: athird switch device; and a hardwire connection.
 6. The method of claim4, further comprising: receiving user input requesting auto-completionof the route; wherein said automatically determining the one or moreadditional elements and said displaying icons representing the one ormore additional elements are performed in response to the user inputrequesting auto-completion of the route.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising: automatically determining a first hardwireconnection between the first switch device and the second switch device;and displaying a hardwire connection icon to visually indicate that theroute passes through the first hardwire connection.
 8. The method ofclaim 7, wherein a second hardwire connection also exists between thefirst switch device and the second switch device; wherein the methodfurther comprises: receiving user input to the graphical user interfacespecifying to use the second hardwire connection instead of the firsthardwire connection; and re-displaying the hardwire connection icon tovisually indicate that the route passes through the second hardwireconnection.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: automaticallydetermining that there is no hardwire connection between the firstswitch device and the second switch device; and visually indicating thatthe route from the first channel of the first switch device to thesecond channel of the second switch device is incomplete.
 10. The methodof claim 9, further comprising: receiving user input to the graphicaluser interface specifying a third switch device to insert between thefirst switch device and the second switch device; displaying a thirdicon representing the third switch device in response to the user inputspecifying the third switch device; wherein a first hardwire connectionexists between the first switch device and the third switch device;wherein a second hardwire connection exists between the third switchdevice and the second switch device; wherein the first hardwireconnection and the second hardwire connection complete the route. 11.The method of claim 10, further comprising: displaying a first hardwireconnection icon to visually indicate that the route passes from thefirst switch device through the first hardwire connection to the thirdswitch device; and displaying a second hardwire connection icon tovisually indicate that the route passes from the third switch devicethrough the second hardwire connection to the second switch device. 12.The method of claim 1, further comprising: automatically configuring theswitch devices used in the route to perform the route.
 13. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: receiving user input to the graphical userinterface specifying a name for the route; storing informationrepresenting the route; wherein the name enables a computer program toprogrammatically reference the stored information representing theroute.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first icon representingthe first switch device displays a name of the first switch device;wherein the second icon representing the second switch device displays aname of the second switch device.
 15. The method of claim 1, whereineach icon representing a respective switch device displays informationindicating: a left hand side endpoint for the respective switch device,wherein the left hand side endpoint comprises a first channel of therespective switch device; a right hand side endpoint for the respectiveswitch device, wherein the right hand side endpoint comprises a secondchannel of the respective switch device; and an internal path from theleft hand side endpoint to the right hand side endpoint; wherein theinternal path includes the first channel of the respective switchdevice, zero or more additional channels of the respective switchdevice, and the second channel of the respective switch device; whereinthe internal path specifies a path within the respective switch devicefrom the first channel of the respective switch to the second channel ofthe respective switch.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein, for thefirst icon representing the first switch device, said displaying theleft hand side endpoint comprises displaying the specified firstendpoint of the route; wherein, for the second icon representing thesecond switch device, said displaying the right hand side endpointcomprises displaying the specified second endpoint of the route.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, further comprising: displaying a hardwire connectionicon to visually indicate that the route passes through a hardwireconnection between the first switch device and the second switch device;wherein the internal path displayed by the first icon indicates a pathof channels from the left hand side endpoint for the first switch deviceto the right hand side endpoint for the first switch device; wherein thehardwire connection connects the right hand side endpoint for the firstswitch device to the left hand side endpoint for the second switchdevice; wherein the internal path displayed by the second icon indicatesa path of channels from the left hand side endpoint for the secondswitch device to the right hand side endpoint for the second switchdevice.
 18. A computer-implemented method for graphically defining aroute through one or more switch devices, the method comprising:displaying a graphical user interface useable for defining the route;receiving user input to the graphical user interface specifying aportion of the route, including a first endpoint for the route and asecond endpoint for the route; displaying the portion of the route onthe graphical user interface; automatically determining a solution tocomplete the route; and graphically displaying the complete route on thegraphical user interface.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein saidgraphically displaying the complete route comprises displaying iconsrepresenting hardware elements used in the route.
 20. The method ofclaim 19, wherein said displaying icons representing hardware elementsused in the route comprises displaying icons representing switch devicesused in the route.
 21. The method of claim 19, wherein said displayingicons representing hardware elements used in the route comprisesdisplaying icons representing hardwire connections used in the route.22. The method of claim 18, wherein the first endpoint comprises achannel on a first switch device; wherein the second endpoint comprisesa channel on a second switch device; wherein said automaticallydetermining a solution to complete the route comprises automaticallydetermining a first hardwire connection between the first switch deviceand the second switch device; wherein said graphically displaying thecomplete route on the graphical user interface comprises graphicallyindicating that the configured route passes from the first switch devicethrough the first hardwire connection to the second switch device. 23.The method of claim 22, further comprising: determining a secondhardwire connection between the first switch device and the secondswitch device, wherein the graphical user interface enables the user toprovide input requesting to use the second hardwire connection insteadof the first hardwire connection; receiving user input to the graphicaluser interface to request to use the second hardwire connection insteadof the first hardwire connection; and re-displaying the complete routeon the graphical user interface to indicate that the configured routepasses from the first switch device through the second hardwireconnection to the second switch device.
 24. The method of claim 18,wherein the first endpoint comprises a channel on a first switch device;wherein the second endpoint comprises a channel on a second switchdevice; wherein said automatically determining the solution to completethe route comprises determining one or more additional switch devices toinclude in the route between the first switch device and the secondswitch device; wherein said graphically displaying the complete route onthe graphical user interface comprises displaying icons representing thefirst switch device, the second switch device, and the one or moreadditional switch devices used in the route.
 25. A system forgraphically defining a route, the system comprising: a processor; amemory storing program instructions; a display device; one or moreswitch devices; wherein the processor is operable to execute the programinstructions to: display a graphical user interface for defining theroute on the display device; receive user input to the graphical userinterface specifying a first endpoint of the route, wherein the firstendpoint comprises a channel of a first switch device; display a firsticon representing the first switch device on the display device inresponse to the user input specifying the first endpoint; receive userinput to the graphical user interface specifying a second endpoint ofthe route, wherein the second endpoint comprises a channel of a secondswitch device; and display a second icon representing the second switchdevice on the display device in response to the user input specifyingthe second endpoint; wherein the first icon and the second icon visuallyindicate that the route passes from the first channel of the firstswitch device to the second channel of the second switch device.
 26. Asystem for graphically defining a route, the system comprising: aprocessor; a memory storing program instructions; a display device; oneor more switch devices; wherein the processor is operable to execute theprogram instructions to: display a graphical user interface useable fordefining the route; receive user input to the graphical user interfacespecifying a portion of the route, including a first endpoint for theroute and a second endpoint for the route; display the portion of theroute on the graphical user interface; automatically determine asolution to complete the route; and graphically display the completeroute on the graphical user interface.
 27. A memory medium forgraphically defining a route through one or more switch devices, themethod comprising program instructions executable to: display agraphical user interface for defining the route; receive user input tothe graphical user interface specifying a first endpoint of the route,wherein the first endpoint comprises a channel of a first switch device;display a first icon representing the first switch device in response tothe user input specifying the first endpoint; receive user input to thegraphical user interface specifying a second endpoint of the route,wherein the second endpoint comprises a channel of a second switchdevice; and display a second icon representing the second switch devicein response to the user input specifying the second endpoint; whereinthe first icon and the second icon visually indicate that the routepasses from the first channel of the first switch device to the secondchannel of the second switch device.
 28. A memory medium for graphicallydefining a route through one or more switch devices, the methodcomprising program instructions executable to: display a graphical userinterface useable for defining the route; receive user input to thegraphical user interface specifying a portion of the route, including afirst endpoint for the route and a second endpoint for the route;display the portion of the route on the graphical user interface;automatically determine a solution to complete the route; andgraphically display the complete route on the graphical user interface.29. A computer-implemented method for graphically defining a routethrough one or more switch devices, the method comprising: displaying agraphical user interface for defining the route; displaying a first iconrepresenting a first switch device; displaying a second iconrepresenting a second switch device; receiving user input to thegraphical user interface specifying a first endpoint of the route,wherein the first endpoint comprises a channel of the first switchdevice; and receiving user input to the graphical user interfacespecifying a second endpoint of the route, wherein the second endpointcomprises a channel of the second switch device; wherein the first iconand the second icon visually indicate that the route passes from thefirst channel of the first switch device to the second channel of thesecond switch device.